Open Water Fish

Early historic references to fishing by the aboriginal peoples of coastal southern California are fairly numerous, but they generally contain little information about the specific technolo­gies that were used or the areas in which the fishing was done. It is well established that at least some of these people had seagoing canoes that were capable of making regular trips between the mainland and the Channel Islands. In addition to the fish that could be exploited from the shoreline, in bays and lagoons, from nearshore areas, and in kelp beds, open-water pelagic fish, such as albacore (Thunnus alalunga), yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis), black skipjack (Euthynnus lineatus), and swordfish (Xiphias gladius), constitut­ed a potentially rich seasonal food resource. Whether this resource was regularly exploited prehistorically, and if so, under what circum­stances, is uncertain.

  • Robert F. Heizer and Albert B. Elsasser (1980:63) suggested that the Chumash peoples of the Santa Barbara Channel area caught various tunas “in large quantities” but that ocean fishing from boats by other coastal California peoples was very minimal or nonexistent.
  • Joseph L. Chartkoff and Kerry Kona Chartkoff (1984:154) noted that Archaic peoples in California “apparently did not practice deep-water fishing.” However, later peoples devel­oped the necessary technology and expertise and were “am­ply reward­ed” from the “huge schools of bonito, albacore, skipjack, yel­lowfin, Jack macker­el, and bluefin.”
  • Roy Salls (1988) reviewed the ethno­his­torical and archaeological evidence for open-water fishing in southern Califor­nia and found it to be extremely limited. He suggested that sea condi­tions did not favor open-water fishing with the watercraft that were in use and that it would have been difficult to land large fish with the avail­able fishing gear. The few open-water fish that were taken may have been procured from locations where the heads of submarine canyons brought deep-water con­ditions close to the shore.
  • Anna C. Noah (1998) reviewed evidence for fishing practices in the San Diego area, based primarily on the archaeological gray literature. Although not abundant, the remains of open-ocean fish species seem to be commonly present in archaeological collections from coastal San Diego County sites. Both Archaic and Late Prehistoric deposits are represented.
Site Primary Period Open-Water Species Other Species NISP References
SDI-197 Archaic Thunnus alalunga 14 90 Christenson 1987a
SDI-811 Late Thunnus sp. 20 305 Hudson 1996
SDI-1103 Archaic Thunnus alalunga 10 22 Laylander 1986; Salls 1988
SDI-4513 Late Euthynnus lineatus, Thunnus alalunga 18 149 Christenson 1986
SDI-4513 Late Thunnus sp. 1 — Christ­enson 1987b
SDI-4513 Late Katsuwonus pelamis 5 67 Christenson 1989
SDI-4538 Late Katsuwonus pelamis, Thunnus sp. 17 519 Christenson 1989
SDI-4609 Late Katsuwonus pelamis, Thunnus alalunga 16 631 Roeder 1983
SDI-4609 Late Euthynnus sp. 5 — Hector 1985
SDI-5017 Late Katsuwonus pelamis 25 220 Roeder 1987
SDI-6153 Archaic — 4 15+ Christenson 1981
SDI-10246 Archaic Thunnus alalunga 7 18 Chace and Bleitz 1989
SDI-10726 Late Katsuwonus pelamis 29 603 Hudson 1996
SDI-10965 Archaic Katsuwonus pelamis 10 — Gallegos and Carrico 1984; Noah 1998
SDI-13325 Archaic Thunnus sp. 10 104 Byrd et al. 1995
SDI-15254 Late Katsuwonus pelamis, Thunnus sp. 26 784 Wake 2003
SDM-W-143 Late Euthynnus sp. 38 500± Roeder 1985
SDM-W-223A Late Katsuwonus pelamis, Thunnus sp. 15 206 Quintero 1987

PROSPECTS

Future archaeological investigations may deterine whether the remains of open-water fish occur more frequently in Archaic or Late Prehistoric deposits, whether they are found more frequently in locations close to submarine canyons, and whether archaeological specimens tend to represent small individuals.