Before there was an island highway connecting the west coast to the rest of Canada and long before there was a grocery store bringing in fresh supplies, hunting and eating coastal First Nations seals for a living.

To bring back this forgotten tradition, young Indigenous men from the Nuu-chah-nulth Youth Warriors Family harvested four harbor seals in October – two from Sarita Bay in the Huu-ay-aht First Nation’s (HFN) modern treaty area and two from unfinished Tla -o- qui-aht First Nations (TFN) territory.

For most of the warriors, the whole experience of hunting fur seals, or kuukuḥw̓isa ʔuʔuʔiiḥ as they say in the Nuu-chah-nulth language, was a first.

“There were a lot of emotions and tears of joy and pride in bringing this back and reviving this dormant knowledge that was up and down the coast,” Spencer Greening (La’goot) said.

Greening, an indigenous researcher from the Ts’myen (Tsimshian) people of the Pacific Northwest, was trained by his elders in how to hunt seals. He was invited by the Warriors Family to mentor the team and show them how to harvest, remove and butcher the marine mammal as his ancestors did.

“It was a total privilege to be in this territory and mentor as they guided me,” Greening said.

The Nookemis wore a wetsuit for the mission and say they ventured into a shallow estuary in their small tin boat and saw seals scurrying around everywhere.

“Fifteen or 20 showed up. It was a choice of which one you want,” Nookemis says. “I had to shoot it and had to dive through all his blood. I snorkeled around trying to find it. That was my first big game kill.”

“If you do a clean shot on a seal, they’ll often float because of their blubber content and because of the salt. Sometimes they’ll sink,” Greening says.

Returning to the beach, the rest of the Warriors team was called up to help with the slaughter.

“We cut open one of the intestines and there was a whole spring salmon in there. It just fell out, Nookemis shared, adding that the bone was very easy to butcher. “It was much softer than a deer.”

When you take apart a seal, Greening explained, the skin comes off first, then the blubber is separated from the skin, cleaned and diced to be made into oil. After the blubber, the seal meat is butchered into cuts for canning and cuts for cooking.

“We used everything we could,” Greening said.

Warriors will learn how to tan hides, or fur, at a future workshop.

Seal skin was traditionally used for all kinds of regalia such as boots, gloves, earrings and coats. In a 1969 Fisheries and Research Board of Canada report on the harbor seal in BC, author Michael Bigg wrote that: “Since 1962 this seal has been hunted for its commercially valuable skin. Seal hunters generally receive between $5 and $35 for a prime rawhide and up to $50 when demand is high.”

The ecological benefits of hunting seals

In his 1969 report, Bigg says the harbor seal “has gained notoriety from the fishing industry and anglers as a predator of commercially valuable fish species.”

To reduce predation, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans placed a bounty on the seal from 1914 to 1964, Bigg reports.

The commercial seal hunt ended in 1967, and the Pacific harbor seal population in BC has since increased to about 100,000, according to a 2019 Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) species bulletin.

Greening is currently a Ph.D. student at Simon Fraser University is investigating how the use of Indigenous knowledge and language in stewardship can create more sustainable Canadian land management practices. He says the plight of wild salmon is another reason modern coastal First Nations are keen to revive the seal hunt.

“Salmon stocks and salmon numbers are some of the worst they’ve ever been in memory. Seals and sea lions play a big part of that, Greening says. “When we become sellers again, we introduce ourselves back into the ecosystem as indigenous people; an ecosystem where we were able to influence and sustain amazing fish populations for millennia. This is just a tool to help salmon populations.”

Community party

All that was harvested was offered to fellowship and given out.

Rachel Dickens-Greening, diabetes dietitian and Ph.D. candidate at UBC studying land and food systems, spent two days teaching the warriors how to process and cook seal for a community feast.

“The act of hunting the seal was just as important as cooking it and giving it away. We fed over 30 people in Opitsaht and there was canned meat for people to take home,” said Dickens-Greening, new mother to baby girl Maaya’ol , meaning “bear’s berry” in the Ts’msyen language.

Seal meat is very dark, notes Greening, who is Rachel’s husband, and it’s like gelatin when you butcher it.

“But it sticks right away when you cook it,” Dickens-Greening said. “Often we cook it at a low and slow temperature to make it tender.”

Seal dishes served included ribs, burgers, tacos, seal and sauce, crispy fried heart, liver and onion and a sweet and salty recipe based on a Vietnamese caramelized pork recipe – a favorite among the warriors.

“The plates were empty,” Nookemis said, noting that he thought the seal meat tasted a lot like roast beef. “It was really good.”

An elder told the community party that he had not eaten seal since the 1940s.

The flipper, a delicacy traditionally served to chiefs, matriarchs and the highest elder, was burned and boiled like pig’s feet.

Rights to seal harvest in BC

Status Indians do not need a license and have the right to hunt seals and sea lions in their territory for food, social and ceremonial purposes, according to the 2017 Legal Services Society publication “A Guide to Aboriginal Harvesting Rights”.

Greening relays that at home in Ts’msyen territory “there are no questions asked, it’s absolutely fine, as long as you have status and are in your traditional territory.”

As a modern treaty nation, Huu-ay-aht had to submit a wildlife harvest plan to DFO and go through a year-long permit process to harvest seals, while Tla-o-qui-aht sought permission internally from knowledge holders and First Nations.

For non-status Indians, Legal Aid says BC regulations don’t recognize your right to hunt, trap or freshwater fish without a licence, and as for hunting seals, it’s illegal in the province unless you’re a status Indian.

In eastern Canada, however, seal owners in Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick can apply for a personal license to harvest up to six harp and/or gray seals, according to a recent announcement from DFO.

“Previously, DFO’s commercial fishing license policy for Eastern Canada only allowed harvesters in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador to apply for personal use seal licenses,” the DFO release said. “In addition to expanding personal use seal harvesting to new provinces, policy changes have also incorporated the long-standing practice of requiring harvesters to attend humane harvest information sessions.”

DFO went on to say it will work with provinces on options to further expand access to the seal harvest for personal use next year.

The Nookemis are already looking forward to harvesting their next seal. He says he wants to get a skin for his grandparents and believes that seal meat could one day be distributed in the community just like food fish.