SOC-I provides First Nations with the tools and data to manage and protect their traditional territories.
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Traditionally, shipping and ocean conservation have operated in separate spheres. When new port and terminal projects are proposed, Indigenous voices are often confined primarily to the formal consultation process. However, this landscape is shifting.
Clear Seas established the Shipping and Ocean Conservation Integration (SOC-I) program to support the transition to greater Indigenous autonomy in managing ocean resources and shaping the future of marine shipping.
Empowering Community-Led Stewardship
The SOC-I program provides First Nations communities with the tools and data they need to understand how marine activities, such as shipping, impact their traditional territories. This effort is crucial as it helps communities track and analyze marine traffic, giving them the resources to protect the waters, lands, and ecosystems they have relied on for millennia.
Clear Seas, an organization focused on promoting sustainable marine shipping, is committed to ensuring that Indigenous communities are actively involved in research conducted in their traditional waters. Through SOC-I, Clear Seas directly links marine shipping activities with ocean conservation efforts, supporting First Nations in managing their territories more effectively.
Acknowledging History, Building Relationships
Clear Seas undertakes this work to address the legacy of colonial harm and acknowledge the continued impact of shipping on Indigenous Peoples. In Canada, shipping has a long history tied to colonial actions: ships brought settlers, disease, forced displacement, resource extraction, and disrupted Indigenous governance and connections to land and water.
Recognizing this history, Clear Seas is committed to reconciliation and decolonization by supporting marine stewardship based on Indigenous ways of knowing and being. This project is more than research. It aims to rebuild reciprocal relationships and provide data and resources so First Nations can make informed decisions about their waterways, guided by their own values and needs. By supporting Indigenous community-led research and creating space for First Nations voices in the shipping sector, we hope to help build a future where shipping and ocean conservation are founded on respect, shared responsibility, and sustainability.
Clear Goals and Hands-On Support
SOC-I’s goals are clear: to help First Nations communities understand the full extent of shipping activities within their territories and to support research that directly addresses their concerns.
Workshops like Mapping Marine Traffic (MMT) play a vital role. They enhance knowledge of marine traffic patterns and help communities visualize how these activities intersect with their cultural practices, food sources, and overall health and wellbeing. Clear Seas has facilitated six workshops across British Columbia, engaging 45 First Nations communities and Tribal Councils, and is funding research projects that respond to the needs voiced by the communities they work with.
Centering Indigenous Knowledge and Control
At the core of SOC-I is a focus on ensuring that research and engagement are led by the communities themselves. This approach recognizes and respects Indigenous knowledge, acknowledging that First Nations have a deep, lived connection to their territories that informs their environmental stewardship. By collaborating directly with First Nations, SOC-I ensures that Indigenous perspectives are central to all decision-making processes.
SOC-I takes a long-term approach to building trust and relationships, rather than offering quick fixes. Through regular face-to-face engagement, Clear Seas ensures that relationships with communities go beyond one-time consultations. This ongoing interaction fosters a deeper understanding of each community’s unique concerns, values, and priorities, ensuring their voices are continuously included.
Furthermore, Clear Seas understands the harm caused by traditional Western research practices, which have often overlooked or misrepresented Indigenous knowledge. SOC-I takes steps to decolonize research by ensuring that First Nations have full ownership and control over the data collected within their territories. By following the OCAP (Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession) framework, Clear Seas gives communities the authority to decide how their data is used and stored, enabling them to direct the research in ways that align with their values and needs.
Looking Ahead
Through continuous dialogue and collaboration, Clear Seas is supporting communities and providing tools for solutions to address the challenges posed by marine conservation and shipping activities. Clear Seas’ role in SOC-I is not just about providing data and tools—it is about enabling Indigenous communities to take charge in protecting their waters, lands, and ecosystems for future generations. As the program moves forward, Clear Seas remains dedicated to ensuring that Indigenous voices continue to shape the future of marine shipping and ocean conservation.
Stay tuned for our next article, where we will share our process and learning in working with First Nations peoples and the impact this work has on shaping the future of shipping and ocean conservation in First Nations territories.
The SOC-I program is supported by funding from Fisheries and Oceans Canada through the Oceans Management Contribution Program
Featured image by Ben Wicks via Unsplash
