Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC)

Fishing

Fish have always been at the heart of our diet. Our ancestors once ate as much as 90% fish, including salmon, sturgeon, eulachon, trout and many other species caught in the Harrison and Fraser Rivers and their tributaries. In this section, we showcase the many kinds of tools and techniques used to catch and process different kinds of fish.

A dark grey stone shaped into a sharpened semi-circle with a wooden handle.
A dark grey stone shaped into a sharpened semi-circle with a wooden handle.
Two rectangular pieces of grey stone with a single sharpened edge.
A dark grey stone shaped into a sharpened semi-circle, with the wooden handle detached.
Long, narrow piece of dark stone tapers into a point at the top.
Five pieces of narrow stone are shaped into points. One has the point broken and another does not taper.
Three pieces of reddish brown fibre are woven into a braid to create a cord.
Two large grey stones, the left one smooth and the right one pitted along the edges, are sitting on a black background.
Three thin pieces of translucent rock are shaped into flat blades. They are varying shades of black to grey.
Eight small pieces of translucent light-coloured rock are laying on a black background. Many are shaped into small blades.
Six small, flat pieces of translucent rock of different shapes.
Ten small flat pieces of translucent rock of with sharp edges.
Fish vertabrae on a black background.