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- Title
The Ecological and Cultural Importance of a Species at Risk of Extinction, Pacific Lamprey.
- Authors
Close, David A.; Fitzpatrick, Martin S.; Li, Hiram W.
- Abstract
The cultural and ecological values of Pacific lamprey () have not been understood by Euro-Americans and thus their great decline has almost gone unnoticed except by Native Americans, who elevated the issue and initiated research to restore its populations, at least in the Columbia Basin. They regard Pacific lamprey as a highly valued resource and as a result ksuyas (lamprey) has become one of their cultural icons. Ksuyas are harvested to this day as a subsistence food by various tribes along the Pacific coast and are highly regarded for their cultural value. Interestingly, our review suggests that the Pacific lamprey plays an important role in the food web, may have acted as a buffer for salmon from predators, and may have been an important source of marine nutrients to oligotrophic watersheds. This is very different from the Euro-American perception that lampreys are pests. We suggest that cultural biases affected management policies.
- Publication
Fisheries, 2002, Vol 27, Issue 7, p19
- ISSN
0363-2415
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1577/1548-8446(2002)027<0019:TEACIO>2.0.CO;2