By John Dennis
Now that spring is close, we will shift the history of the Micmacs to one of their favorite pasttimes, fishing. The Micmacs were regarded for their hunting skills, but it was their fishing skills and tools that helped them survive the harsh winters. Fish was the food that supplied about 90 percent of their available food; there was a variety of fish and an abundance that varied throughout the many summer months. When one species of fish had been hunted, another species appeared; these fish were smoked, roasted or dried for better preservation. Oil from whales and seals were a delicacy for the Micmacs, it brought the much needed fat for the harsh months that would soon come in the cold winter months.
When the Micmac people would go into the ocean to hunt for big sea mammals, they would have one person steering the canoe while the other would spear the fish. A rope, which was braided with basswood, was attached to the end of the spear.
Leisters were also widely utilized by the Micmacs for inshore fishing where the fish were plentiful. Leisters were in the shape of the spear except that the tip had three prongs, two wide ones on each side to slide the fish in the center and one pointed prong in the center to make the kill. The leisters were fashioned with moose bones and were held together by a rope like material that was from tiny strands of inner bark.
Another method that was used to capture the fish was through traps where a fence was fashioned at the narrowest place within the rivers; the middle of the fence would have an opening that was fashioned to capture the fish through an ash basket that had a wide opening in one end and a small opening at the other to keep the fish within the fenced in area. Fish nets were also used to capture the fish, these nets were similar to the scoop nets that we see today when a fisherman would catch a fish and bring it aboard the boat with his/her net.
The Micmacs, along with the other tribe’s within the region survived on knowledge, this knowledge was passed on from elder to young and so on. The way that the Micmac people fished was similar to the way that they hunted food for their family. Every living thing was valued and respected, you only took what your family needed, any more than what was needed was considered wasteful and greedy. This type of fishing or hunting was considered to be disrespectful to the animal, who had given up its life for the family to live.
Every life that is in the forest or ocean is considered for the people to have, but to have too much of it may result in having little to none for the future generation. This was always in consideration for the children’s sake, that they would have something to hunt or fish in their time.
John Dennis is the cultural/community development director for the Aroostook Band of Micmacs.
