By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer Half a century ago, sea otters were on the brink of extinction along British Columbia’s coast. Pulled from the frigid, untamed waters of Alaska, these charismatic creatures were brought back to their ancestral habitat. Today, they thrive through kelp forests and rugged inlets, celebrated as a symbol of one of the conservation’s greatest comebacks. But with their return has come an unexpected reckoning, leading some First Nations to ask for the return of hunting — a practice that has been outlawed for generations. Mariah Charleson, the 37-year-old chief councillor of Hesquiaht First Nation, grew up paddling in Hot Springs Cove, which was once rich with clams and Dungeness crabs. Just across from her childhood home, the seabed teemed with shellfish…
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