Comox Bay Fish Weirs:
Komox First Nations Land Use Map - Download (8.86 MB)
The K’ómoks people have lived along the eastern shore of Vancouver Island for thousands of years. Their traditional territory stretched from Kelsey Bay to south to Hornby and Denman Island and included the watershed and estuary of the Puntledge River. The word K’ómoks is loosely translated to mean, “the land of plenty” referring to the generous amounts of salmon, seal, octopus, herring, cod, deer, ducks, shellfish as well as plants and berries.
Remnants of a large system of fish traps or weirs that were used for at least the last 1200 years to catch large quantities of salmon can still be seen today. Local archaeologist Nancy Greene has mapped these wooden stakes and has determined that there are possibly 200,000 or more of these stakes in the mud flats today.
After realizing the extent of the Comox fish weirs Nancy took her quest to understand this ancient method of fishing to another level. She took the information that was gained by mapping the stakes and put it into a computer, which generated a picture of what the entire weir complex may have looked like. She found that most of the weirs were of a similar shape and enormous in size. Some were heart shaped and others chevron shaped, today engineers note that these two shapes are known for their strength and ability to hold large quantities. The computer-generated picture also revealed that these weirs functioned together in order to maximize the catch and lessen the workload. All of this information suggests that these weirs were built by experts who designed, built, maintained and operated this complex system. It also tells us that the population at the time the fish weirs were built must have been enormous.
Eleven of the stakes were sent for carbon dating and it was revealed that the oldest stake was made from a hemlock tree 1,284 years ago, while the most recent was made around 1830. This scientific evidence along with oral history that has been passed down from generation to generation gives solid proof of the importance of this salmon fishery to the K’ómoks people in Comox Bay.
So the next time you are going past the estuary on a low tide and notice the stakes that are visible all the way across to Courtenay, know that you are looking at a unique part of our coasts archaeological record.
