Skye Augustine

Assistant Professor Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries On leave until July, 2026 Research Unit Centre for Indigenous Fisheries

Contact Information

Email: cif@oceans.ubc.ca
Website: Centre for Indigenous Fisheries

Research Interests

Indigenous governance, knowledge systems, stewardship, food systems, conservation, coastal ecosystems, intertidal and nearshore ecosystems

Biography

Dr. Skye Augustine is a hul’q’umi’num’ scholar and marine ecologist from Stz’uminus First Nation and is a Principal Investigator and faculty member with the Centre for Indigenous Fisheries at the University of British Columbia.

Skye’s work centres Indigenous governance, knowledge systems, and stewardship resurgence within food systems and conservation with a focus on coastal, intertidal, and nearshore ecosystems. She is recognized for her leadership in Coast Salish clam garden restoration, having led a large-scale revitalization of these ancient mariculture systems. This work, co-developed with historic Cowichan and W̱SÁNEĆ Nations and knowledge holders, has restored ancestral infrastructure, strengthened Indigenous stewardship within protected areas, and generated ecological insights into multispecies food systems and food system resilience across millennia.

A central feature of Skye’s scholarship is her role as a boundary spanner, working across Indigenous knowledge systems, ecology, archaeology, and governance. She approaches research creatively and relationally, designing processes that uphold cultural integrity and prioritize equity among knowledge systems. Her broader research explores Indigenous aquaculture and food systems from the intertidal to the seascape, including invertebrates and seaweeds that are foundational to Indigenous food systems yet often overlooked in fisheries science.

Skye is a founding member of the Clam Garden Network and the pan-Pacific Indigenous Aquaculture Collaborative. She is deeply committed to reweaving kinship relationships across communities and seascapes, and to supporting Indigenous-led food systems that sustain both people and place. Her work is grounded in her responsibilities to future generations, including her young daughter.