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Chapter Seven The Folkbiology of Freshwater Fish “I fish because I love to: because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariably beautiful. . . . Because of all the television commercials , cocktail parties, and assorted social posturing I escape. . . . Because trout do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed or impressed by power. . . . And finally, not because I regard fishing as being so terribly important , but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally important . . . and not nearly so much fun.” —John Voelker, Anatomy of a Fisherman (1964) THIS BOOK IS about intergroup conflict over natural resources, mainly fish and game. Even though experts from the two groups included in this study, Menominee Indians and majority-culture sportsmen, more or less agree on their basic values with respect to conservation, they are often in conflict. Our hypothesis is that different ways of looking at nature and the species that make up nature constitute different frameworks used to evaluate activities and practices. These meanings and associated judgments lead to stereotyping, misunderstanding, and intergroup conflict. To make our argument we shall elaborate each group’s understanding of nature; in this chapter we look at understandings of freshwater fish. One of the best ways to find out who the experts are is to ask around. Once you find a few experts you can ask them to identify other experts. This is known as the “snowball method” of sampling and it works pretty well. How do we know it works? We get an index of knowledge by asking informants about their familiarity with local species of fish, not only about the popular game fish but also non-game-fish species such as gar (Lepisosfeus sp.), dogfish (amia calva), darter (Etheostoma sp.), dace (Phoxinus sp.), and stickleback (Culaea inconstans). Our experts were fa68 The Folkbiology of Freshwater Fish 69 miliar with all but a handful of the forty-four to forty-six kinds of fish we asked them about. We also asked experts to nominate more typical fisherman —people who fished a lot but would probably know less about fish. With one or two exceptions, these less expert fishermen were, in fact, less familiar with local species of fish, which confirmed our judgment of who were truly expert. In order to select the group of fish species that would work for testing local knowledge, we needed to find out what fish were inhabiting the local water bodies. We started out by asking fishermen to list the fish found in the area. This also acquainted us with the local names for fish. We then supplemented this by referring to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources fish surveys of the area and asking a few majorityculture and Menominee experts if the various fish were found locally. Questions about names helped not only to select kinds of fish but also the level of specificity at which to name them. For example, we had to decide whether to distinguish between black crappie and white crappie or to just use the folkgeneric term crappie. As a general rule (see Hunn 1999), finer distinctions are made for larger fish. For example, experts distinguish between white and black crappie, and largemouth and smallmouth bass, but not between specific kinds of darters and dace. Smaller fish that are used for bait and differ in habitat and goal-relevant characteristics —examples of these are river shiner and golden shiner; fathead minnow and bluntnose minnow—are also conceptualized at the folkspecific level. Our selection procedures allowed us to use relevant local names and to narrow our set of local fish down to forty-six.1 THE LOCAL FISH SPECIES The full listing of the fish species knowledge of which would be tested to assess expert knowledge is given in table 7.1. The most relevant species are discussed here. Walleyes and Perch We have already mentioned walleyes (Stizostedion vitreum) in describing the controversy over Native American spearfishing rights. Walleyes and their smaller cousins, yellow perch (Perca flavescens), are among the most prized fish for eating. Friday-night fish frys pretty much feature walleyes and perch. Northern Pike The northern pike (or simply, “northern” Esox lucius) is one of the larger predator fish. Northern pikes have an elongated body shape like that of a barracuda and they also have voracious appetites. They can grow to be quite large and it is not rare for them to exceed [3.141.41.187] Project MUSE (2024-04-26 02...

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