X̱aayda Gwaay.yaay Ḵuugaay Gwii Sdiihltl’lx̱a – The Sea Otters Return to Haida Gwaii

Before the fur trade: co-existence

Haida and ḵu•ḵuu have a long history together.  Before the marine fur trade in the 1700s and 1800s, Haida and ḵu•ḵuu co-existed for thousands of years. Ḵu•Ḵuu were integral to the ecosystems that provided food and resources to Haida society over that long time. 

Haida and ḵu•ḵuu lived together as neighbours eating some of the same seafoods, including urchins, clams, crabs, mussels and abalone. Ḵu•Ḵuu feature in Haida stories and their furs were used in regalia. This long relationship was disrupted when intense hunting during the marine fur trade led to the local extinction of ḵu•ḵuu from Haida Gwaii waters in the early 1800s. The return of ḵu•ḵuu marks another important point in the long-standing relationship.

Changes to the ecosystem: when ḵu•ḵuu disappeared

Ḵu•Ḵuu’s absence following the marine fur trade led to dramatic underwater changes. Ḵu•Ḵuu are one of the very few predators of large red sea urchins, a prickly kelp eater. Without ḵu•ḵuu to eat them, sea urchin numbers exploded. The urchins grazed the kelp forests down to a tiny fraction of their former size. The once lush underwater kelp forests turned to urchin barrens – areas thick with sea urchins but little else. Red urchins can survive for a long time in a dormant state when there is no more food, and this allowed urchin barrens to persist and prevent kelp forest regrowth. Other changes occurred too. Large invertebrates that ḵu•ḵuu eat, such as abalone, grew in numbers and changed their behaviour, adapting to the ecosystem without ḵu•ḵuu.

Ḵu•Ḵuu will also change other coastal ecosystems such as eelgrass meadows and clam beds. Eelgrass meadows are expected to become more diverse and healthier. In turn, healthy eelgrass habitat will better nurture juvenile rockfish, salmon, herring, crabs, and more that call eelgrass home. Ḵu•Ḵuu will eat intertidal and subtidal clams like butter clams and geoducks, and reduce the number and size of clams where ḵu•ḵuu forage. In the intertidal area, their foraging will be limited to higher tides when they have enough water to dive and dig.

Changes can be considered good or bad

Some changes we will consider as positive and others as negative based on our values and expectations today.

The Haida Fisheries Program and Gwaii Haanas are working together to monitor ḵu•ḵuu’s return and to study changes to the land, sea and people. At the same time, we are listening and learning from communities on Haida Gwaii and communities who are already living with ḵu•ḵuu about how to live with ḵu•ḵuu as neighbours. The more we know about ḵu•ḵuu in our waters the better we can consider likely changes and plan for a future of co-existence.

Planning together for our future co-existence with ḵu•ḵuu

The Council of the Haida Nation and Gwaii Haanas are exploring ways to approach the return of ḵu•ḵuu. In 2020, the Council of the Haida Nation and Gwaii Haanas initiated X̱aayda Gwaay.yaay Ḵuugaay Gwii Sdiihltl’lx̱a The Sea Otters Return to Haida Gwaii.  This project focuses on community conversations about what co-existing with ḵu•ḵuu on Haida Gwaii can look like now and into the future.  It also focuses on bringing together existing knowledge about how ḵu•ḵuu have affected other ecosystems including human communities. We will apply that learning to help us direct how we want our relationship with ḵu•ḵuu to develop on Haida Gwaii.

Through community engagement sessions, the Council of the Haida Nation and Gwaii Haanas are listening to community expectations and questions and are discussing options based on Haida worldviews, ethics and values, cultural and local knowledge, and science. 

Exploring questions and possible future scenarios

The ḵu•ḵuu ecosystem models will allow us to explore what is expected to happen under different management scenarios and changing environmental conditions with climate change.  We can examine impacts to important fisheries, including Haida traditional fisheries and commercial fisheries.  We can explore the impacts of different marine management scenarios and strategies on ḵu•ḵuu, kelp, abalone, clams, rockfish and people. Using the models, we will be able to generate maps and diagrams to help us visualize and understand a very complex system in an ever-changing world.  The ḵu•ḵuu ecosystem models will be a valuable tool to inform management decisions about our valuable marine resources and help us make decisions in line with Haida values.