courses

Masters of Science thesis – 18 credit program

FISH 549B Credits: 18

If you are in the 12-credit thesis program, please sign up for FISH 549A.
If you are in the 18-credit thesis program, please sign up for FISH 549B.

M.Sc. candidates would normally register in section 100 (Term 1 & 2).

If you plan to complete your degree during Term 1, register in section 101 (Term 1). You will still have the option of registering in section 102 for Term 2 should it take longer than anticipated.

Directed Studies in Oceans and Fisheries

FISH 548 Credits: 1-3

This directed studies course is offered mainly to Graduate Students in the Oceans and Fisheries (OCF) Masters and PhD programs. If a graduate student would like to have specialized instruction in a particular topic that is not offered in the UBC calendars, then the graduate student could make a request to their supervisor or some other IOF Faculty member for a FISH 548 directed studies course to be proposed and designed on the desired topic. The course could be library-based, lab-based or fieldwork-based. The instructor would need to provide a proposed course syllabus to one of the IOF graduate advisors for their approval at least one month prior to the term’s start date. The minimum credit is 1 to allow for a topic that could be covered in about two hours of directed study time per week. The maximum is set at 3 to place a reasonable maximum limit on the expected directed study time per week and credit hours attainable from a directed studies.

Any Faculty Member in the IOF could propose and offer FISH 548.

Bayesian Decision Analysis for Fisheries Management

FISH 510 Credits: 3

Exploring the use of Bayesian decision analysis as a quantitative technique with which to inform decision makers about the extent to which alternative decision options may enable them to achieve their objectives, taking into account available information and uncertainty over factors that affect the outcomes of interest. Students will learn about the conceptual framework for Bayesian decision analysis, attitudes to risk and uncertainty, risk averse and other types of utility functions, minimax and maximin regret and other types of decision making criteria, the concept of expected value of perfect information, different approaches to assigning probabilities to alternative hypotheses, including Bayesian statistical methods, different software options for Bayesian decision analysis calculations, approaches to communicating results obtained from Bayesian decision analysis, the roles of decision analysis results in the making of decisions, and the advantages and limitations of Bayesian decision analysis as an approach to facilitate the use of science in resource management and policy decision making.

Murdoch McAllister
Not offered in 2023/24

Fisheries Economics and Management

FISH 508 Credits: 3

The course covers the bioeconomic theory of fisheries, game-theoretic approaches to the management of shared resources, and topical issues in fisheries economics and management. The course begins with a discussion of environmental and natural resource economics and how fisheries economics fits into the general picture. This is followed by a discussion of the theory underlying fisheries economics. Bioeconomic theory of fisheries will be presented using simple models. These models will be used to introduce fundamental economic results, such as the importance of cost relationships and the consequences of open access. Fisheries regulations will be an integral part of the course. Regulatory regimes such as taxes, quotas (including ITQs) and marine protected areas will be discussed.

Rashid Sumaila
Not offered in 2023/24

Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Fisheries Management – Current Topics in Fisheries

FISH 506F / ANTH 461 Credits: 3

This course will focus on the role of traditional & local ecological knowledge in environmental assessment processes and in the development of resource management plans. Natural resource management approaches have long been critiqued for highlighting bio-economic features over cultural and social aspects of the human/environmental interface. Practitioners have come a long way over the past several decades and are now open to incorporating local systems of knowledge into management plans. The difficulty is how to do this.

Charles Menzies
Not offered in 2023/24