US: Indigenous peoples have shucked billions of oysters around the world sustainably

Published May 3, 2022

Tridge summary

A study led by Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and Temple University anthropologists has found that Indigenous oyster fisheries were sustainably managed for hundreds to thousands of years before European colonization. The research, published in Nature Communications, suggests that these ancient fisheries could provide insights for modern estuary restoration and management. The study relied on archaeological records, specifically oyster shell middens, and found that Indigenous harvesting practices did not lead to population crashes. The authors call for the inclusion of Indigenous communities in modern conservation decisions to address the decline of oyster populations in places like the Chesapeake and San Francisco bays.

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Original content

A new global study of Indigenous oyster fisheries co-led by Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History anthropologist Torben Rick and Temple University anthropologist and former Smithsonian postdoctoral fellow Leslie Reeder-Myers shows that oyster fisheries were hugely productive and sustainably managed on a massive scale over hundreds and even thousands of years of intensive harvest. The study's broadest finding was that long before European colonizers arrived, the Indigenous groups in these locations harvested and ate immense quantities of oysters in a manner that did not appear to cause the bivalves' populations to suffer and crash. The research, published May 3 in Nature Communications, suggests that studying these ancient, sustainable fisheries offers ...

Source: Phys