Aboriginal Entrepreneurship in the Sphere of Fishing: The Example of Sakhalin

ABSTRACT

The article describes the author’s extensive fieldwork on Sakhalin island, covering the development and difficulties of establishing Indigenous entrepreneurship in the sphere of fishing. Legal restrictions at the federal level include narrow definitions of “territories of traditional land use,” and inadequate understanding of the importance of flexible fishing calendars and creative, culturally oriented use of modern technologies. Nivkhi Indigenous values of moderation, customary law, and feeding extended families have contended with greedy newcomer businesses that have fished out much of southern Sakhalin with industrial-scale fishing operations and fish farming. The author argues that Indigenous access to aquatic biological resources should be broadened, so that Indigenous peoples cognizant of sustainability are not accused of being poachers on their own lands and fishing grounds.

KEYWORDS:

• aboriginal entrepreneurship
• fishing
• culturally oriented modernization
• Sakhalin
• Nivkhi
• legal anthropology
• International Indigenous rights

Notes

a. For perspective on the Slow Food movement, see the work of one of its Indigenous leaders and philosophers, Professor Kyle Powys Whyte, for example, “Indigenous Climate Justice and Food Sovereignty. Indigenous Food Sovereignty in the United States: Restoring Cultural Knowledge, Protecting Environments, and Regaining Health. Ed by D. Mihesuah and E. Hoover, 320–34. Tulsa: University of Oklahoma Press, 2019.