Gitga’at Board Rep Kyle Clifton: A Fishing Life

Gitga’at representative Wah Goot’m Haida Kyle Clifton brings a uniquely broad perspective to the CNF Board of Directors.

Kyle is Haida on his mother’s side, but he grew up in Gitga’at territory where his father was born. There was no high school in Hartley Bay at that time, so the family moved to Comox, on Vancouver Island, when Kyle was 15. “My dad spent a lot of time in Comox as a fisherman, waiting for the herring every year,” says Kyle. “I graduated from high school there, then moved to Victoria for university, then up north to Prince Rupert where I’ve been ever since.”

Growing up in a fishing family and beginning his career as a commercial fisherman, Kyle has also worked in marine planning for the Gitga’at Nation since 2003, which has given him a wide lens to understand coastal fisheries—from the life of a fish harvester to working in a collaborative setting to identifying marine protected areas in those same coastal waters.

“If marine planning is done right, it can be one of the most important tools to making fishers successful,” says Kyle, noting that those working on the water have the biggest influence on how resource use is planned within their territory.

Kyle says there is often distrust from commercial fishers about marine planning efforts, but he believes those concerns would dissipate after learning more about the process from their Nation’s marine planners. “We all know that top-down planning coming from Ottawa or Vancouver doesn't work,” says Kyle. “It has to come from the people on the ground, noticing the changes.” During his 20-plus years in the role, Kyle says that’s been the goal of marine planning from the start—it’s being developed by First Nations people who view commercial fishing as a very important part of their history and culture. “They're not going to completely shut out commercial fishing and kill their own opportunities within their lands and waters,” he says.

Kyle’s upbringing is a case-in-point that shows the importance of fishing for coastal families, and why rebuilding community-based fisheries is so crucial. “I started commercial fishing with my father and grandfather in the early 80s,” says Kyle. “We fished herring at spring break and then salmon troll and seine all summer, from when I was 10 or 12 years old, all the way to university.” He goes on to describe the fishing lifestyle back then: “In Hartley Bay, you probably had 12 to 15 seine boat captains that sourced their crew right from the village, so it employed most of the village. If somebody was going out harvesting, people would just have to show up at the boat to work for the day, then everyone went home with a share.”

Kyle says some of his fondest memories were sunny days in the summer when fishing families would often tie up with other vessels for a picnic of fresh smoked fish on deck, with everybody together, telling stories. “It's that social part that I really miss,” he says. “Us kids didn’t have cell phones, so our entertainment was listening to the older guys tell stories. They would talk about how fishing used to be and you’d learn so much from those old stories.”

The social aspects of fishing ultimately lead to important lessons on the water. “For First Nations people, harvesting and processing traditional foods is one of the most important ways of passing the culture down to the next generations,” says Kyle. “You learn all these little tricks about harvest timing, weather and tides, and whatever fishing gear you’re using. There’s a lot of knowledge of the territories that gets passed through these activities out on the water.”

Kyle says the times he’s been out with his own children, sharing what he’s learned, are some of his most cherished experiences. “Teaching them the places that I know, and then learning new places together, has been really important to me,” he says. “Someone told me once that you don't know what you know until you have to teach it to somebody, and that is absolutely true.”

Those experiences, past and present, are also top of mind for Kyle in his role on the CNF Board. “I think the options we're proposing through Coastal Nations Fisheries are going to be really valuable for people because you get to fish close to home,” he says. “It's pretty daunting for young people to think about the investment needed, but with the right training and preparation, they could get set up for a fairly lucrative career in fishing.”

Kyle’s advice for aspiring fishers is to learn from someone experienced by getting a job on a fishing boat, just to see if it’s the job for you. “We have to develop opportunities that are at the level people want to access,” says Kyle. “It’s going to take time to develop, but if we ensure people have some initial success, even if it’s part-time at first, they may transition into a full-time fishing career. I want to see our people out on the water before I leave this position.”

Kyle says that getting a fishing job is one thing, but he’s quick to emphasize the added value that local, traditional fishers can bring. “The Gitga’at Nation is known for the quality of their traditional foods and I want that to be a big part of whatever we sell,” he says. “We should harvest and process our seafood in the same window we harvest our own traditional foods. Those same rules should apply to the food we serve to all of our customers.”