Data from: Indigenous knowledge of key ecological processes confers resilience to a small-scale kelp fishery

1. Feedbacks between social and ecological processes can lead to
sustainable stewardship practices that support ecological resilience among
harvested populations. This is evident along the world’s coast lines,
where Indigenous knowledge systems have facilitated millennia of human
nature coexistence. However, social-ecological conditions globally are
quickly shifting, posing challenges for coastal Indigenous communities
where customary harvest of ocean resources, such as kelps, need to adapt
to growing markets, novel climates and changing governance regimes.
Consequently, a pressing need exists to determine how specific ecological
and social variables drive key dynamics within coupled human-ocean
systems. 2. Motivated by the information needs of an Indigenous community
on Canada’s Pacific Coast, we co-designed a traditional harvest
experiment, field surveys, and semi-directed interviews with Indigenous
resource users and managers to measure the ecological resilience of the
feather boa kelp (Egregia menziesii) to harvest and determine what
environmental variables most affected its recovery. We wove these results
with information on current stewardship practices to inform future
management of this slow growing perennial kelp based on Indigenous
knowledge and western science. 3. We found that Egregia recovered from
traditional harvest levels faster than expected with minimal impact on its
productivity because plants sprouted new fronds. In fact, traditional
harvest levels of Egregia mimicked natural frond loss. Indigenous
knowledge and empirical ecological evidence revealed the importance of
individual plant size, site-specific seawater temperature and wave
exposure in driving Egregia recovery. Indigenous stewardship practices
reflected these ecological relationships in the practice of selecting
large plants from sites with healthy patches of Egregia. While we
documented key social controls of harvest, current self-reported harvest
levels of kelp fronds were 2 times greater than the stated social norm,
but only 1.2 times greater in terms of kelp biomass. 4. Consequently,
traditional harvest protocols facilitate Egregia recovery and promote its
sustained use. However, its ecological resilience is susceptible to the
erosion of customary practices and warming ocean temperatures. 5.
Co-produced research that mobilizes multiple bodies of knowledge can
enhance our understanding of social-ecological resilience, empower local
decision makers, and democratize the science and practice of natural
resource management.