They are very important to us. We have an economic development group that looks after how we deal with, manage and farm our oysters, Manila clams and butter clams. We want to make sure that there's a supply that can improve our economics on our reserve and raise the level from the priority levels that we have.
They are important in two things. First is economic development, but they're also for our people. In our community, when we have a naming, when we have a death or when there's a memorial, what's provided at those as meals is seafood: oysters, clams, Manila clams—geoducks in general. We go there, we gather that, and we feed people who come to our community to acknowledge a naming or to appear for a memorial.
It's very important to us that there be no contamination of those oyster fields and the clam farming that we have there. It's important to us that we don't have huge oil spills. We've had two scares. One I mentioned earlier about the boat that washed up on the breakwater. Second was DND vessel that released all of this oil, diesel oil or something. It was a huge concern that, should that have drifted to our bay, which is referenced often on maps as Nanoose Bay, it would have been a huge concern, because we would have lost that access.
It's been there for us, as you mentioned, for time immemorial. We've been gathering for as long as I can remember, as long as my mom can remember, as long as my grandfather can remember. They are used in our practices at home, where we can help support and bond with our other family members and with our culture when it comes to longhouses and our burnings. For our elders, when we do a burning at a memorial where we feed them on the other side, seafood is on the table.
As the two previous guests, Mr. Macedo and Chief Joe, have mentioned, it's of huge importance to us economically but also as a personal, spiritual and cultural practice with our community members.