DOI: 10.5061/dryad.ng8pf
title: Data from: Species and population diversity in Pacific salmon fisheries underpin indigenous food security

description: Indigenous people are considered to be among the most vulnerable to food
 insecurity and biodiversity loss. Biodiversity is cited as a key component
 of indigenous food security; however, quantitative examples of this
 linkage are limited. We examined how species and population diversity
 influence the food security of indigenous fisheries for Pacific salmon
 (Oncorhynchus species). We compared two dimensions of food security –
 catch stability (interannual variability) and access (season length) –
 across a salmon diversity gradient for 21 fisheries on the Fraser River,
 Canada, over 30 years, using linear regression models. We used population
 diversity proxies derived from a range of existing measures because
 population-specific data were unavailable. While both population and
 species diversity were generally associated with higher catch stability
 and temporal access, population diversity had a stronger signal. Fisheries
 with access to high species diversity had up to 1·4 times more stable
 catch than predicted by the portfolio effect and up to 1·2 times longer
 fishing seasons than fisheries with access to fewer species. Fisheries
 with access to high population diversity had up to 3·8 times more stable
 catch and three times longer seasons than fisheries with access to fewer
 populations. Catch stability of Chinook Oncorhynchus tshawytscha and
 sockeye Oncorhynchus nerka fisheries was best explained by the number of
 populations and conservation units, respectively, that migrate past a
 fishery en route to spawning grounds. Similar population diversity metrics
 were important explanatory variables for season length of sockeye, pink
 Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, coho Oncorhynchus kisutch and chum Oncorhynchus
 keta fisheries. Synthesis and applications. We show an empirical example
 of how multiple scales of biodiversity support food security across a
 large watershed and suggest that protecting fine-scale salmon diversity
 will help promote food security for indigenous people. The scales of
 environmental assessments need to match the scales of the socio-ecological
 processes that will be affected by development. We illustrate that
 upstream projects that damage salmon habitat could degrade the food
 security of downstream indigenous fisheries, with implications to Canadian
 indigenous people and to watersheds around the world where migratory
 fishes support local fisheries.
description: FraserFSCSalmonFisheries_CatchData_1983_2012This is a dataset of food, social, and ceremonial (FSC) fisheries weekly catch numbers of salmon on the Fraser River, BC, Canada from 1983 to 2012. FSC fisheries are indigenous fisheries that are jointly managed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and indigenous groups. Data are available online (http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/fraser/archives-a-eng.html#First_Nations) and through request. Fisheries are managed by region. Column headers are: downstream_point (downstream point of each fishery management region), species (species of salmon caught), year, day (day number of year, represents beginning of week where fish were caught), weeklycatch (number of fish caught in that week), tributary (1 if the fishery was on a tributary, 0 if the fishery was on the mainstem of the Fraser), hells (0 if the fishery was downstream of Hell's Gate, 1 if the fishery was upstream of Hell's Gate), richness (population richness that the fishery had access to, see Nesbitt & Moore for more details), km (distance the downstream point of the fishery is from the ocean, along the river network), ind.mass (average mass of an individual fish of that species, in kg), lat_ds_point (latitude of downstream point of fishery), long_ds_point (longitude of downstream point of fishery).