Nisga'a: beyond survival

Summary: "Over hundreds of years of Nisga'a history, the little candle fish or smelt, properly called the Oolichan, became known as the Saviour fish. Before freezers and supermarkets, the Nisga'a developed many ways to preserve their great salmon catches through smoking and air drying. But if the winter proved extra hard or long, some families would come close to starvation. In the early spring, with ice still on the river, the tide would bring the oolichan up stream to spawn. The turning tide would sweep the fish back down the river and no matter how foul the weather, fishermen prepared their nets to catch this essential food, which was prepared for the table and preserved in many different ways. The oil rendered from boiling up some of the fish produced a lifegiving 'grease' - the cod liver oil of the Nass!" --