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Fish, cannibalism, and sustainability
George McKale
My early college years were spent in the northern reaches of California, where in 1978 I didn’t see the sun for four months. To maintain some level of sustenance, I had to resort to a semi hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Augmenting my staple of macaroni and cheese – 25 cents a box – were the weekly excursions to the Eel River during steelhead and salmon season. At the time, one could bring home two fish per day. During the height of the season, fisherman would line up shoulder-to-shoulder at each and every fishing hole hoping to shout out two words which still sends goose bumps up my spine, “fish on.” Today, the fishery on the watershed is threatened, and no fish may be removed from the river.
One model for the downfall of the ancient Mayan and Incan empires focuses on the depletion of natural resources. Too many trees were cut down and used for dwellings, heat, and cooking which also resulted in the loss of fauna – animals used for food. For a fun read, check out “Cannibals and Kings” by anthropologist Marvin Harris. Among other topics regarding the taming of Mother Nature by humans, Harris suggests the increase in human sacrifice in pre-Columbian Meso and South America may have been the result of such environmental destruction. There is plenty of evidence for the consumption of human flesh. While not to be discussed in polite circles, cannibalism may have been the result of poor environmental management.
Speaking of environmental management, the Sonoma Ecology Center documents history to promote change; in their own words, “To understand current environmental challenges requires knowledge of how our landscape has evolved through time.” Arthur Dawson, researcher with the Sonoma Ecology Center, has compiled a series of short oral histories from Sonoma Valley elders titled “Creek Wisdom.” Many of the elders recounted stories of the “good ole days” when trout, steelhead, and salmon were caught in great numbers in many Sonoma Valley creeks. By the late 1800s, the local fisheries were so depleted, stocking was required to keep the fisheries going. Today, no fishing is allowed in Sonoma Valley creeks above tide water. A quick review of historic maps, documents the disappearance of a number of Sonoma Valley creeks and streams once flowing in our backyards. Even these minor drainages were probably used by indigenous peoples at one time through the millennia; the flora and fauna had to move elsewhere.
Archaeology has come to the rescue to help researchers understand what fish species inhabited the waterways of Northern California prior to Euro-American influences upon our environment. Studies in the Clear Lake region, along Putah and Cache Creeks, have provided a whole slew of “gists” – archaeolo-, ecolo-, paleontolo-, biolo-, etc., – with the tools required to reconstruct past environments. Along Putah Creek, the most common fishes today have been introduced, such as largemouth bass, bluegill, green sunfish, catfish, and carp. Some of the fish identified from archaeological sites are now extinct, and while introduced species seem to dominate the Putah Creek fisheries, the drainage is still home to hitch, Sacramento blackfish, pikeminnow, suckers, and threespine and stickleback.
George Bernard Shaw wrote, “If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.” With Sonoma’s recent Cittaslow award, Sonoma Valley residents have been honored because our commitment to restrained growth and sustainability ethics. This, I see, as being equivocal to a lifestyle promoting moderation. To achieve balance in our natural, cultural, social, and economic surroundings, history has advised the human race to live with an ethic based on moderation. On the banks of Sonoma Creek, over at Maxwell Regional Park, I have sat in silence contemplating Shaw and Harris, while waiting for the salmon and steelhead to swim past to their spawning grounds. I am there not as a hunter, but as a historian, hoping to get a glimpse of what it was like here in the Valley in the not-so-distant past. For the record, I’d rather eat fish!
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