Program Background

Fishing and giigoonh (fish) consumption are central to Anishinaabe culture. Ogaa (walleye) and other giigoonh represent a significant subsistence food source for tribal communities. The practice of harvesting, sharing, and consuming giigoonh is passed down from generation to generation and is an important part of bimaadiziwin (the Anishinaabe way of life), which incorporates culture, spirituality, language, and traditions including the consumption of traditional foods. Giigoonh throughout the Ceded Territory contain environmental contaminants, posing a threat to the health of tribal communities. Relative to the general U.S. population, tribes are disproportionately vulnerable to the presence of contaminants as a result of their higher consumption rate of local giigoonh. Limitations on giigoonh consumption as a result of environmental contaminants threaten the traditional Anishinaabe life-way and the ability of the Ojibwe people to fully exercise their treaty harvest rights, which require that the resources that are the subject of those rights are available in both quantity and quality. When giigoonh become contaminated, it is not practical or acceptable for tribes to simply switch to consuming alternative food sources because fishing and giigoonh consumption are an integral part of their culture and life-way. There is no adequate substitute for giigoonh consumption within the Anishinaabe culture.

Tribal commercial giigoonh harvest by GLIFWC member tribes from Lake Superior typically exceeds 2 million pounds annually. In Wisconsin, approximately 500 GLIFWC tribal members participate in spring spearing and netting each year, harvesting approximately 30,000 giigoonh from over 200 inland lakes, many of which lie within the Great Lakes basin. Another 2,500 giigoonh are typically taken by tribal members from inland lakes of the western Upper Peninsula (U.P.) of Michigan (harvest data by tribal members in the eastern U.P. unavailable). Tribal harvesters also typically harvest over 50,000 giigoonh annually from Mille Lacs in Minnesota. These fisheries constitute both a source of subsistence food and monetary income.

GLIFWC’s advisory program has positively impacted the health of tribal members by influencing ogaa harvest and consumption patterns in ways that reduce mercury exposure. An evaluation of the efficacy of GLIFWC’s advisory program demonstrated an increased awareness of GLIFWC’s mercury advisory among tribal harvesters and women of childbearing age as well as an increased preference by harvesters for smaller walleye, which have lower mercury concentrations (DeWeese et al., 2009; Foran et al., 2010). This work builds upon three decades of efforts by GLIFWC to develop and disseminate fish consumption advisories and other safe fish consumption outreach materials to our member tribes that are based on comprehensive contaminant monitoring and research on Lake Superior and inland fish.