Before supermarkets and refrigeration Indigenous people had to manage their food resources carefully. They could not store food for times when fish stocks were low or order in food from other areas. They had no access to technology such as sonar to find schools of fish and drift nets to ensure a maximum catch. If through mismanagement they destroyed a stream, there was no way to restock it with animals and the tribe would starve. If a herd of deer was killed and no young animals were left to reproduce the deer would die, causing huge disruptions in the local environment.

Native people were experts at managing animal population in their local area to ensure that the ecosystem stayed in balance and future generations would always have enough food. They existed in balance with their environment for thousands of years because of their unique methods. An example of this can be seen in their methods to protect fish stock including:

• designating fishing areas for groups of people of individuals: this made sure that no area was overfished past its limit and was always able to regenerate.
• restricting the number of fish taken so that fish could reproduce and re-build their numbers
• declaring closed seasons: stopping fishing when other animals such as crabs or seals were seen in large numbers ensuring that the tribe had enough food to survive and giving fish time to restock for the next season.
• various taboos: guaranteeing that small species of fish were available for larger fish in the food chain, prohibiting fishing in sacred pools:
• total avoidance: some areas of river or sea were never fished so that there was always an area for fish to reproduce making sure their numbers never dropped to the point of extinction.

Other Examples:

Western Desert Aboriginals, Australia

Major water holes were always used last when finding food

Great Basin Numa - North America

Fire was not used because the bush took too long to regenerate and this risked long term damage to the food chain. Antelope drives were held only every 12 years.

Montagnais - North America

After consulting with their gods a new hunting area is chosen each year.

Aranda - Australia

Many breeding grounds were classed as sacred and hunting could not be carried out around the area, providing a refuge for breeding animals.

Kung Bushmen - Africa

Seasonal sources of water were always used before permanent pools or streams allowing the environment a change to regenerate .

Mbuti - Africa

Every part of the animal was used reducing the number of animals that needed to be killed to provide food. They would never kill more animals than necessary for the day.

Bibliography

Baker, et al. Pathways into Senior Geography. (Melbourne: Nelson, 1995)

Pain, Bliss & Smith. Pathways to Geography HSC Course. (Melbourne: Macmillan, 1995)

The Software Toolworks Multimedia Encyclopaedia, Release 6. (New York: Grolier, 1996)

Encarta 96 Encyclopaedia. (Redmond: Microsoft, 1996)