Sandy Edge
Mon, November 29, 2021
We have always harvested the marsh.
The Chicora of the Catawba once traversed the coast from Cape Fear, North Carolina to Savannah, Georgia, but, as the land became colonized we slowly retreated into the sacred heart of our territory, what is now Little River Neck, South Carolina.
With our people condensed to one small spot, we needed a system for survival.
So we kept the marsh like we would a garden. The marsh was divided into plots and we became the gardeners – harvesting and reseeding the saltmarsh.
This maintenance both kept the marsh healthy and provided us with food.
Until the mid-1980s, our tribe maintained these plots.
Each day we’d shuck oysters into five-quart jars and leave their shells in the marsh for new oysters to grow on. We didn’t eat the oysters ourselves, but people were crazy for them and we’d sell the oysters to them.
Us?
We were after the fish.
Mullet, spot, flounder - those were our delicacies. We’d plant fish traps near our oyster gardens or spearfish in the crystal clear water the oysters produced.
Our target size was the size of our hand, never too big, never too small.
Then, after a long day, we would split our catch among our community and sell the excess at the fish market. Those days would end around the stew pot with the smell of mullet in the air.
The next day we would wake up and work those plots again, every day, until we were too old. Then, we’d pass it to the next member of our tribe. The responsibility of stewardship and the bounty it produced was now theirs.
But we’ve been cut off from our marshes.
As people decided they wanted our land, we found we didn’t have the proof of ownership they wanted.
First were told our land was already owned under King’s Grant.
Then that land was sold and developed and we lost access. The plots that were handed down and cared for over generations were taken from us. Now they’re bisected by lawns, golf courses, and roads.
Not only has the marsh lost our stewardship, but the weather is changing. I’ve watched the rains grow heavier and more frequent in my lifetime. The water floods the manicured lawns that were once marsh and maritime forest. The rain falls onto roads and concrete and rushes into the marsh. All of this run-off, laden with fertilizer and pollution, chokes the once clear waters of our home.
The fish that were once plentiful and fed our families are scarce. Today, people catch them too small or too big, and they catch too many. Our way maintained those fish. Now those resources are depleted.
The Chicora way of life has disappeared with these resources.
If we want to eat fish, a staple of our diet, we must now buy fish from the market. The same market we used to sell fish to. I’d love to pass our traditions to my children, but the opportunity is slipping away.
We have to protect our marshes and the resources they provide.
We need to protect access to these resources as well. It’s more than a question of protecting the natural systems that protect our communities.
For me and my tribe, it’s a question of survival.
These marshes fed us and sustained our culture.
To be cut off from these marshes means to be cut off from the soul of the Chicora people.
Sandy Edge lives in Little River Neck and is a member of the Chicora family of the Catawba People
Lummi Nation declares disaster as tens of thousands of invasive European green crab found
Natasha Brennan
Mon, November 29, 2021, 6:00 AM·3 min read
The Lummi Indian Business Council has passed a resolution declaring a disaster after more than 70,000 European green crab — an invasive species — were captured and removed from the Lummi Sea Pond in recent months.
The Tribe cultivates shellfish and juvenile salmon in the 750-acre sea pond surrounded by the most productive natural shellfish beds on the reservation. The crabs threatens hatchery operations, Tribal shellfish harvests and may have larger impacts if the infestation spreads.
“The appearance of the European green crab is a serious threat to our treaty fishing rights,” Lummi Nation Chairman William Jones Jr. said in a press release.
The council passed the resolution Tuesday, Nov. 23, following a multi-agency effort led by the Lummi Natural Resources Department to remove the aggressive predator that consumes shellfish, destroys salmon habitat and is credited with the rapid decline of Maine’s soft-shell clam industry within the past decade.
The resolution establishes a task force that will confront the crisis with a comprehensive response strategy.
“Warming water temperatures due to climate change have only made things worse,” Jones said. “Unless action is taken to contain and reduce the problem, we will see this invasive species spread further into Lummi Bay and neighboring areas of the Salish Sea.”
The crab — native to Europe and northern Africa — is a highly adaptable shore crab that preys on juvenile clams before they reach harvestable age, out-competes native crab species, such as Dungeness crab, and wreaks havoc on nearshore marine and estuary ecosystems.
It is also known to burrow into marsh banks and uproot eelgrass beds, an important nursery habitat for juvenile salmon.
Given the devastating ecological impacts of the crab, the Washington Sea Grant’s Crab Team coordinated a region-wide early detection effort in partnership with the state, Tribes and volunteers in 2015.
Despite its name, the European green crabs distinguishing feature is not its color, but the five spines to the outside of the eye on the shell. Lummi Indian Business Council passed a resolution Tuesday, Nov. 23, declaring a disaster after more than 70,000 invasive European green crab were removed from Lummi Sea Pond.
Remains of one crab were found in Squalicum Harbor in May 2019 — the first confirmation of the “global invader” in Whatcom County. Later that year, the crabs were found on Lummi Nation beaches and in the Tribe’s aquaculture pond near the fish and shellfish hatchery.
In September 2020, traps caught nearly 1,000 crabs in the Lummi Sea Pond alone.
Before then, the largest numbers of the crab were found near the Makah Reservation located on the tip of the Olympic Peninsula in Clallam County.
This past June, four were found in Squalicum Harbor, marking the first time that live crabs had been discovered in the harbor in Bellingham.
Now, tens of thousands have invaded the Lummi Sea Pond — a “perfect breeding ground” with ample food, safety from predators and a stable growing environment.
The staggering, unprecedented population explosion led Lummi Nation, the Crab Team, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the University of Washington to collaborate on the largest European green crab trapping effort since it was detected in the Western U.S.
At an October meeting with the state’s 29 federally recognized Tribes, Gov. Inslee heard from some Tribal leaders on how the crab infestation is hurting their Tribes and economies.
The crab’s impact on salmon is especially concerning, after more than 2,500 adult Chinook have died in the South Fork since September and recent flooding further disrupted their habitat.
Natasha Brennan
Mon, November 29, 2021, 6:00 AM·3 min read
The Lummi Indian Business Council has passed a resolution declaring a disaster after more than 70,000 European green crab — an invasive species — were captured and removed from the Lummi Sea Pond in recent months.
The Tribe cultivates shellfish and juvenile salmon in the 750-acre sea pond surrounded by the most productive natural shellfish beds on the reservation. The crabs threatens hatchery operations, Tribal shellfish harvests and may have larger impacts if the infestation spreads.
“The appearance of the European green crab is a serious threat to our treaty fishing rights,” Lummi Nation Chairman William Jones Jr. said in a press release.
The council passed the resolution Tuesday, Nov. 23, following a multi-agency effort led by the Lummi Natural Resources Department to remove the aggressive predator that consumes shellfish, destroys salmon habitat and is credited with the rapid decline of Maine’s soft-shell clam industry within the past decade.
The resolution establishes a task force that will confront the crisis with a comprehensive response strategy.
“Warming water temperatures due to climate change have only made things worse,” Jones said. “Unless action is taken to contain and reduce the problem, we will see this invasive species spread further into Lummi Bay and neighboring areas of the Salish Sea.”
The crab — native to Europe and northern Africa — is a highly adaptable shore crab that preys on juvenile clams before they reach harvestable age, out-competes native crab species, such as Dungeness crab, and wreaks havoc on nearshore marine and estuary ecosystems.
It is also known to burrow into marsh banks and uproot eelgrass beds, an important nursery habitat for juvenile salmon.
Given the devastating ecological impacts of the crab, the Washington Sea Grant’s Crab Team coordinated a region-wide early detection effort in partnership with the state, Tribes and volunteers in 2015.
Despite its name, the European green crabs distinguishing feature is not its color, but the five spines to the outside of the eye on the shell. Lummi Indian Business Council passed a resolution Tuesday, Nov. 23, declaring a disaster after more than 70,000 invasive European green crab were removed from Lummi Sea Pond.
Remains of one crab were found in Squalicum Harbor in May 2019 — the first confirmation of the “global invader” in Whatcom County. Later that year, the crabs were found on Lummi Nation beaches and in the Tribe’s aquaculture pond near the fish and shellfish hatchery.
In September 2020, traps caught nearly 1,000 crabs in the Lummi Sea Pond alone.
Before then, the largest numbers of the crab were found near the Makah Reservation located on the tip of the Olympic Peninsula in Clallam County.
This past June, four were found in Squalicum Harbor, marking the first time that live crabs had been discovered in the harbor in Bellingham.
Now, tens of thousands have invaded the Lummi Sea Pond — a “perfect breeding ground” with ample food, safety from predators and a stable growing environment.
The staggering, unprecedented population explosion led Lummi Nation, the Crab Team, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the University of Washington to collaborate on the largest European green crab trapping effort since it was detected in the Western U.S.
At an October meeting with the state’s 29 federally recognized Tribes, Gov. Inslee heard from some Tribal leaders on how the crab infestation is hurting their Tribes and economies.
The crab’s impact on salmon is especially concerning, after more than 2,500 adult Chinook have died in the South Fork since September and recent flooding further disrupted their habitat.
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