The world’s oceans provide humanity with food, employment, climate stabilization, and energy, not to mention, the social and cultural identity of coastal communities. The ever-increasing demand on oceans including recreational and commercial fishing, transportation, aquaculture, oil and gas development, and tourism, has made managing our oceans important for their long-term sustainability. Overharvesting of the ocean’s resources has caused a reduction in biodiversity, degradation of marine ecosystems and habitats, and put our reliance on the ocean’s ecosystem services at risk. In addition, climate change has altered ocean temperatures and biogeochemistry, changing weather patterns which in turn increases the quantity and intensity of natural disasters. We are now forced to find ways to adapt to these changing conditions to become more resilient to ocean-related natural disasters, as well as preserving the oceans that we rely on.
At UBC, these topics are being tackled by a diverse group of researchers with a variety of interests including ecosystem services, natural disasters, human-induced climate change, ocean governance, cultural histories, sustainable fisheries, and community empowerment. This cutting-edge research is helping us to better understand the importance of the oceans to societies. With about half of the world’s population living in coastal zones, it is essential that we learn from past mistakes and rely on scientific data to better manage the way we use the ocean’s resources. The risk, challenges, and opportunities of a changing climate are a key aspect of research at UBC (Donner, Chang, Cheung). Due to the social and economic importance of salmon in BC, the health and abundance of culturally important fish stocks are assessed (Christensen, Clark, McAllister, Zeller, Pitcher). Integrating this information then leads to the management of these stocks (Foster, Menzies, Walters, Zeller, Palomares, Sumaila, Pitcher) and conservation efforts if need be (Foster, Cheung, Vincent, Palomares). In parallel, researchers at UBC are also exploring the socio-ecological importance of fish too human cultures (Chan, Newell, Zeigler, Palomares, Sumaila).
Kai Chan
Professor
IRES; Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences
Website and Publications
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Themes within Chan’s lab include ecosystem services and biodiversity; the ecological and evolutionary underpinnings of invasions and infestations; and applied environmental ethics. Current research looks at social-ecological systems and how to improve the understanding and implementation of these systems in governance. Through analysis and modelling, the limitations, impacts and risks to ecosystem services are explored.
Stephanie Chang
Professor
IRES; SCARP
Departmental Site, Personal Site, and Publications
Email
Chang’s work addresses questions related to community vulnerability and adaptability to natural disasters including roles of infrastructure systems (e.g., water, electric power, transportation) and environmental systems in disaster risk and resilience.
William Cheung
Professor and Director; Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Ocean Sustainability and Global Change
Institute for Oceans and Fisheries
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Email
The Changing Ocean Research Unit studies the effects of global climate and ocean changes on marine ecosystems, biodiversity and fisheries social-ecological systems. Led by Dr. William Cheung, the Unit assesses the biophysical and socio-economic vulnerabilities and impacts of marine climate change, and identifies mitigation and adaptation options. Its vision is “Predicting the future ocean under climate change”. Mission is to improve understanding of the past, current and future responses of marine ecosystems and fisheries to global change; and explore and inform policy-relevant solutions at local and global scales to improve human well-being and the sustainable use of ocean biodiversity and ecosystem services. Its strategies are to integrate multidisciplinary datasets and information across scales and domains, and facilitate democratization of knowledge through innovative partnerships, capacity building and outreach initiatives; and to apply and develop scenarios and models to understand the dynamics of changing oceans and ecosystems.
Villy Christensen
Professor
Zoology; Institute for Oceans and Fisheries
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Christensen specializes in ecosystem modelling—in particular, data-driven ecosystem model construction. Past work has described global ocean models, studied global fish biomass and biodiversity trends in relation to seafood demand, and outlined new habitat capacity models.
Simon Donner
Associate Professor
Geography
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Donner’s research provides insight into the causes and effects of human-induced climate change, the efficacy of policy and mitigation options, and the consequences for human welfare. Current areas of research include climate change and coral reefs; ocean warming and El Nino; climate change adaptation in the developing world; Canadian and international climate policy; public engagement on climate change.
Sarah Foster
Program Manager
Project Seahorse
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Email
Foster’s research and conservation work span the areas of trade and bycatch – specifically the listing of marine species on The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), and the issue of small fish species in bycatch. Project themes include trade and policy, sustainable fisheries, and conservation education.
Vinay Kamat
Associate Professor
Anthropology
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Kamat has an interdisciplinary background including medical anthropology; ethnography; global health; outsourcing of clinical drug trials in India; childhood malaria in Tanzania; marine conservation in East Africa; dispossession; extractive industry; and political ecology. His work in Southeastern Tanzania examines the social impact of a large-scale marine conservation project (Marine Park) in the coastal region of Mtwara, following displacement and the enforcement of restrictions on fishing and extracting marine resources.
Ralph Matthews
Professor
Sociology
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Matthews’ primary research interests focus on the relationship between social change and economic development at a community and regional level, and in assessing the ways in which public policy influences that relationship. He is examining the relationship between social capital, community resilience, and economic development in coastal British Columbia communities.
Charles Menzies
Professor
Anthropology
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Hagwil hayetsk (Charles Menzies), member of Gitxaała Nation, conducts research and teaching on the ethnography of Western Europe and Coastal British Columbia, natural resource-dependent communities and resource management policies, and the political economy of social struggle. His book, “People of the Saltwater: An Ethnography of Git lax m’oon” discusses an economy based on natural-resource extraction by examining fisheries and their central importance to the Gitxaalas’ cultural roots. He is also the Director of The Ethnographic Film Unit at UBC https://anthfilm.anth.ubc.ca/
Dianne Newell
Professor Emeritus
History
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Newell’s research interests include Canadian social and economic history; science and technology in late industrial society; women in Cold War science fiction and 1970s radio documentaries; Aboriginal women in the industrial economy; and Pacific/Northwest Coast fisheries and anthropology.
Maria Lourdes ‘Deng’ Palomares
Senior Scientist
Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries
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Email
Maria Lourdes ‘Deng’ Palomares is a Senior Scientist with the Sea Around Us Project in charge of the Sea Around Us catch databases. She also handles issues related to FishBase, an information system for the world’s fishes and is the Project Coordinator for SeaLifeBase, an information system for the world’s marine organisms other than fish. She is interested in traditional ecological knowledge by fisher communities.
Daniel Pauly
Professor
Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries; Zoology
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Dr. Pauly’s research interests include aquatic ecosystems, Ichthyology and Fisheries management. He is also devoted to studying, documenting and promoting policies to mitigate the impact of fisheries on the world’s marine ecosystems. Pauly is also co-founder of FishBase.org, the online encyclopedia of more than 30,000 fish species, and he has helped develop the widely-used Ecopath modeling software.
Tony Pitcher
Professor
Zoology
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Pitcher’s research addresses the impacts of fishing on aquatic ecosystems, the development of quantitative, multi-criteria evaluation frameworks and rapid appraisal techniques for evidence-based assessment of fisheries, management instruments and management goals, and a predictive understanding of how fish shoaling behavior impacts fisheries.
Terre Satterfield
Professor
Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability
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Satterfield’s work concerns sustainable development in the context of debates about cultural meanings, environmental values, perceived risk, environmental, and ecosystem health. Her contribution to the publication “Ocean Grabbing” which refers to acts of dispossession or appropriation of marine resources or spaces, presents a framework to evaluate conservation or development initiatives for ocean grabbing.
Rashid Sumaila
Professor
Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries
Departmental Website, Research Unit Website, and Publications
Email
Sumaila specializes in bioeconomics, marine ecosystem valuation and the analysis of global issues such as fisheries subsidies, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and the economics of high and deep seas fisheries. Sumaila has worked in fisheries and natural resource projects in Norway, Canada and the North Atlantic region, Namibia and the Southern African region, Ghana and the West African region and Hong Kong and the South China Sea.
Amanda Vincent
Professor
Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries
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The Vincent Lab mobilizes conservation action to improve the status of marine species and habitats. She is actively involved in biological and social research, empowering local communities, establishing marine protected areas, managing small-scale fisheries, restructuring international trade, promoting integrated policy, and advancing environmental understanding.
Barbara Zeigler
Professor
Art History, Visual Art & Theory
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Email
Zeigler’s artistic practice is structured around an extended inquiry into ever-shifting relations between ecosystems and human, cultural structures. She has a particular interest in the language used to represent British Columbia’s fish populations and marine ecosystems.
Dirk Zeller
Senior Scientist
Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries
Departmental Website, Laboratory Website, and Publications
Email
Zeller leads research on global catch reconstructions and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and engages in research on coral reef fisheries, ocean governance, and fisheries policy. He collaborates closely with the Fisheries Economics Research Unit, with the Changing Ocean Research Unit, and with the UBC Faculty of Law.