Passamaquoddy tribe and harbour porpoise relationships

Passamaquoddy Tribe & Harbor Porpoise

Running Page: OPPOSING TRIBAL INSULT AND ENVIRONMENTAL ONSLAUGHT

Passamaquoddy Tribe and Harbor Porpoise

History of the Passamaquoddy Tribe

Historical records say that the Passamaquoddy people were the first inhabitants of the Quoddy area in Maine and New Brunswick, Canada (St. Croix Heritage, 2009). They consisted of small and mobile groups who were primarily hunters and gatherers who settled at the St. Croix valley in the beginning of the 16th century. They were also called Etchemins by the French explorers who first encountered them at that time. The Passamaquoddies spoke the Algonquian language and a Wabanaki dialect, which was similar to that of the Maliseet of the St. John River Valley. At this first formal contact with Europeans, the Passamaquoddies subsisted particularly on the marine and estuarine resources of the St. Croix River, Passamaquoddy Bay, the Bay of Fundy and the upper St. Croix watershed. Some records suggest that the native communities had an earlier but indirect and temporary contact with Basque, Portuguese and English ships, mostly fishing boats. The French explorer Verrezano visited Passamaquoddy in 1554 and Estavan Gomaz of Spain the following year explored Penobascot River. Thereafter, French and English ships touched down in the Penobscot and began trading on the coast of present-day Maine and points east. Fur trading quickly became the natives' second major commerce and an important economic activity among the Europeans (St. Croix Heritage).

The introduction and popularization of the fur trade among the natives brought in new and revolutionary materials (St. Croix Heritage, 2009). These changed traditional technology, personal use and ritual. The main activity was the search for furbearers, especially the beaver, which were over-hunted and depleted. Heightened competition between groups for trapping grounds and contact with traders put political systems out of balance. And contact with Europeans also brought in diseases to which the natives had no immunity. Epidemics greatly reduced native populations in the early years of the 17th century. By 1711, there were fewer than 1,000 Passamaquoddies as a result. The Mikmaq people also dominated their region. French Jesuit missionaries came in to convert the Passamaquoddies to the Catholic religion (St. Croix Heritage).

The five Algonquian-speaking tribes consisted of the Mikmaq, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy and Maliseet peoples (Wabanaki Confederacy, 2008). They formed the Wabanaki Confederacy. The area they occupied is now called the New England states of Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, and the Canadian Maritimes, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The Confederacy was dissolved in 1862 and only five remained and still exist as allies. These are the Abenaki Indians in Northern Vermont, Micmaq Indians of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, the Passamaquoddies, the Maliseet and the Penoscott Indians (Wabanaki Confederacy).

The Passamaquoddies contributed significantly to the American Revolution against the British, particularly through the rare fighting ability of Francis Joseph Neptune in August 1777 (Quoddy Loop, 2009). This marksman shot and killed the captain of a British vessel with his flintlock rifle. This achievement confused and fazed the British who turned back and never returned. Loyalists to Great Britain fled, occupied and settled the Passamaquoddies in Indian Island and again displaced them in Pembroke. They eventually settled in Pleasant Point, located between Eastport and Perry, Maine. While most Passamaquoddies moved there, some remained in New Brunswick. These remaining in New Brunswick have persistently tried to protect their lands, although the Canadian government has yet to recognize their presence in the area. The take-over of their land by loyalist settlers destroyed and replaced these simple people's self-sufficiency with dependency. The Maine Land Claims Settlement Act was said to have improved the economic conditions of Passamaquoddies in that State. But employment, social and economic problems have remained (Quoddy Loop).

Passamaquoddy tribes have their own tribal governments (Quoddy Loop, 2009). Each reservation has a government, which consists of a tribal council, a governor, and a lieutenant governor. Two reservations share a joint tribal council. A tribal government possesses autonomy and a status similar to that of a municipality. They share the culture of other tribes in the Confederacy. Their traditional skills of hunting and fishing are still practiced in tribal lands at present. Their other crafts include basketry, jewelry, wood carving and canoe-making. Their workmanship enjoy high reputation. Their products are displayed and sold at the Pleasant Point Reservation and in other places (Quoddy Loop).

Environmental History

The Quoddy region in the outer Bay of Fundy is greatly admired and sought for its marine species diversity and productivity in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean (Lotze & Milewski, 2002). Its ocean currents and circulation patterns, high tides, upwelling and a short energy-efficient food chair make up a rich marine life. Its vast food web supports a wide variety of predatory invertebrates, fishes, marine birds and mammals in the region to as far as the Arctic, South America and South Africa. In addition, these resources provide the needs of different species for breeding, spawning, nursing, foraging, hiding and resting. This diversity and its far-reaching and extraordinary food supply, in turn, make for the diversity and productivity of the species found in the region. These species dwell in the West Isles archipelago, the Grand Manan archipelago, Maces Bay and The Wolves Island simultaneously (Lotze & Milewsky).

New European settlers at the shores of the Bay of Fundy in the early 1600s until the late 18th century changed the region culturally, economically and environmentally in only a matter of years (Lotze & Milewsky, 2002). They exploited marine and terrestrial resources and industries. Their activities adversely affected the environment and the species in it directly and indirectly. Hunting and fishing pressure increased progressively with the passing of the years. Traditional target species in sea fishery began to decline. In addition to exploitation, habitual alteration, destruction and degradation grew. Every change in every specie population affects the overall food web and ecosystem. Major changes, which have occurred in the region from 1700 to 2000, include the loss or decrease of large predatory species, increase and dominance of commercially less important and smaller species, and a general increase of opportunistic species over specialist ones. These changes have affected interactions, relationships and linkages between habitat-building species and their users. Unlike other regions, the Quoddy region, however, displays potentials of sustainability. Protection initiatives in the 20th century recovered many bird and mammal species. There were times of lower fishing pressure during World War II when fish stocks became more abundant. River habitat was restored. The use of gill nets with acoustic "pingers" decreased catches of harbor porpoise. Effective sewage treatment and protection zones led to the recovery of benthic habitat and increased fish biomass in marine protected areas elsewhere. The belief is that the situation at Quoddy and other marine regions may improve and continue to support marine life in the future as in the past according to certain conditions. These are the provision of marine species with adequate habitat, food and undisturbed space and time; reduced use of destructive fishing gear; protection of critical spawning, breeding, nursing, foraging and staging habitats; reduced nutrient pollution and chemical by-products; and integration of human and marine species' needs (Lotze & Milewsky).

Harbor Porpoises

Poor life expectancy among harbor porpoises has been attributed to the increased commercial fishing industry in the region (Moulton & DeMaria, 1998). They are easily drawn to gill nets, which destroy them. A study conducted on porpoises at the Bay of Fundy and Maine revealed that 4.3% of these animals are killed every year by gill nets. In response to the finding, the nets have been "pinged" to allow porpoises to use their echo-location capabilities to avoid getting caught. Other studies showed that these "pingers" are effective and do not affect commercial fishery catches (Moulton & DeMaria).

Other causes of the decline in harbor porpoise population are the slight warming of waters in the New Brunswick coast, toxins and hunting porpoises as food resource (Moulton & DeMaria, 1998). Some researchers believed that porpoises cannot thermo-regulate in warmer waters. Other researchers attributed the cause to food resources. Toxins also affect the reproductive capabilities of porpoises. Changes in marine habitats at the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of Maine have raised the levels of toxic organo-chlorides and threatened their population. And in the 80s, Indians of the Pleasant Point Reserve tribe hunted porpoises for food. The Canadian Fisheries Act has extended protection to harbor porpoises since 1982 to respond to the situation. As a consequence, the species was listed as a threatened species in U.S. waters since 1990. Other rescue efforts included clean-ups of major harbors and the fishing industry's commitment to prevent net entanglements (Moulton & DeMaria).

Harbor porpoises are an established concern for the Canadian government and particularly threatened by three proposals to build giant marine terminals on the Maine shoreline (Figart, 2008). The proposals would turn the traditional tourism, fishing and aquaculture economy into an industrial zone with its accompanying environmental threats. Six tons of greenhouse gases and toxic chemicals were expected to be emitted by structures on a daily basis. Huge tankers are accompanied by gunboats carrying potentially hazardous cargo would soon change the land and seascapes. These gunboats would devastate wildlife area and other immense and indefinite environmental impact. These tankers would carry liquefied natural gas or LNG in cruising through Head Harbor Passage. It would take at least 90 minutes for each tanker, the size of Queen Mary, to cross the passage of whale and porpoise feeding areas, breeding grounds and nurseries as well as aquaculture sites and fishing grounds (Figart).

Legal Battle

The Passamaquoddy people and their ancestors have, for thousands of years, lived, fished, hunted and cultivated land in the Quoddy region (Harvey, 2004). They have thrived on marine species for survival. But over 200 years of permanent European settlement in the region since the late 18th century introduced environmental predators and developers. With the passing of the years, they increased and became more and more efficient (Harvey). In response to the situation, the United Nations Environment developed the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based activities or GPA in 1995 (Horsley & Witten, 1998). GPA elicits action from UN member-states to preserve and protect the marine environment both on regional, national and international levels in attaining the international goal of "sustainable seas." A1998 workshop among member-States identified the impacts of contaminants in the Gulf of Maine with the end-view of eliminating or reducing these. The workshop found that contaminants collected through point-source discharges but knowledge about these was still new. The areas and consequences of pollution on the ecosystem were little known. It found obvious signs of the effects of pollution. But there remained a lack of understanding of collective, cumulative, and synergistic effects of food chains, environmental variability and contaminant effects simultaneously. Chemical contaminants were most concentrated close to the shore in industrialized or heavily urbanized areas and in waste disposal areas. These were the spawning habitats for important commercial fishes. Fish species in early stages are most vulnerable to toxic substances. The contaminants were identified as sewage, persistent organic pollutants, radioactive substances, heavy metals, hydrocarbon oils, nutrients, sediment mobilization and litter (Horsley and Witten).

LNG Proposals Opposed by Tribes, Federal Assurances

Two proposals for Quoddy Bay liquefied natural gas or LNG ports were opposed by the Passamaquoddy community in writing to the Prime Minister Paul Martin in September 2005 (ENS, 2009). The tribesmen urged him to help serve their Canadian interests in protecting the Passamaquoddy Bay and all Canadian citizens in the area by opposing the proposals. For his part, the U.S. Coast Guard assured the natives that it would assess and assure safety and security associated with LNG tankers crossing the Passamquoddy Bay, which separates Maine and New Brunswick. The proposals would build a new terminal in Robbinston town in the U.S.-Canada border and a new terminal on the Passamaquoddy tribal reservation a Pleasant Point. The U.S. Coast Guard assured that these structures would be "state-of-the-art" and environmentally safe. Those behind the projects would work very closely with local officials, a Port Safety Forum, and the Area Maritime Security Committee in evaluating the proposals. Coast Guard Captain Stephen Garrity also said they would also elicit comments from the public in the U.S. And Canada to insure that the full range of associated issues would be considered (ENS).

Federal regulators also stated that mitigation measures would make sure that these projects would have "less-than-significant" environmental impacts in the involved areas

(Trotter, 2009). Among these mitigation measures were the use of forward-watching whale spotters on the LNG tankers, tree and vegetation buffers on the route and shore of Passamaquoddy Bay, neutral color for LNG storage tanks to reduce visibility, and night-sky friendly lighting. Downeast LNG, one of the three developer-proponents, wanted to build a larger terminal at the Passamaquoddy tribal land at Pleasant Point than the one in Robbinston town. The third proponent, Calais LNG, would like to build another on the St. Croix River in Calais (Trotter).

$100,000 for the Fight against LNG Projects

Veterans Affairs Minister for New Brunswick Greg Thompson announced the provision of $100,000 to fuel the fight against the proposed LNG development in Passamaquoddy Bay (Rayner, 2008). He said that the federal government considered Head Harbor Passage internal Canadian waters and that his government would use all diplomatic means to stand on this position. He believed that the three proponents -- Quoddy Bay LNG, Downeast LNG, and Calais LNG -- were too late to succeed in the marketplace. They did not seem to be concerned about Canada's position not to allow tankers to cross Harbor Passage. Turning these proponents could cost $600,000 and Canada pinned its hope on Ottawa to take the definite step not to allow tanker vessels into the Bay. That step could stop the proponents on the track (Rayner).