Climate change is supercharging marine invasions, global study finds

Global review reveals warming oceans are making marine invasive species more successful — and highlights critical blind spots that could leave many regions unprepared.

Marine invasive species are poised to become an even greater threat to ocean biodiversity as climate change accelerates their success, according to a major new global study led by the University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF).

Native range of invasive species included in the study based on the global marine biogeographic classification developed by Spalding et al. (2007) to define marine provinces. This system delineates the world’s coastal and shelf waters into 62 distinct marine provinces based on shared biogeographic characteristics of marine ecosystems, including patterns in species composition, oceanographic features, evolutionary history, and endemism at the species level.

Rather than focusing on a single notorious invader, the researchers drew together evidence from 67 independent studies that examined 30 marine invasive species spanning seaweeds, shellfish, crustaceans, predators and other marine organisms from around the world, developing one of the most comprehensive assessments to date of how climate change is altering biological invasions in the world’s oceans. Together, these species paint a consistent picture: climate change is increasingly tipping the balance in favour of non-native species.

“Climate change and invasive species are often treated as separate environmental problems,” said lead author Dr. Nicola Smith, who was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for the Ocean and Fisheries at the time the research was undertaken, and is currently an assistant professor, biology, at Concordia University. “Our analysis shows climate change consistently favours marine invaders, particularly by increasing their abundance and helping them establish new populations. Ocean warming and climate-driven extreme events – including marine heatwaves and hurricanes – reinforce one another, creating a much larger threat to marine biodiversity than either would alone.”

“Warming oceans, marine heatwaves, hurricanes, and other climate-driven disturbances are making invasive species more likely to survive, increase in abundance, and establish viable populations,” said senior author Dr. William Cheung, professor in the IOF. “As warming continues, preventing new invasions and detecting them early will become increasingly important for protecting marine ecosystems and the fisheries and coastal communities that depend on them.”

Japweed, or Japanese Wireweed (Sargassum muticum) stranded on the shore. Graça Gaspar, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Collectively, the 30 species included in the study originated predominantly from the cold and warm temperate Northwest Pacific, particularly the coasts of Japan, South Korea and eastern China, before spreading to coastal ecosystems around the globe. Species examined included invasive seaweeds such as Sargassum muticum, Undaria pinnatifida, and Rugulopteryx okamurae; shellfish including the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas), Asian date mussel (Musculista senhousia), and Atlantic slipper limpet (Crepidula fornicata); as well as invasive predators such as the northern Pacific seastar (Asterias amurensis), the veined rapa whelk (Rapana venosa), and the comb jelly (Mnemiopsis leidyi).

According to the study, the greatest concentrations of invasive species now occur in the Mediterranean Sea and the Northern European Seas, where some marine provinces host up to 17 of the invasive species included in the study. The research attributes these patterns to intense shipping activity, expanding aquaculture, warming waters and extensive coastal development, all of which increase opportunities for species to move and establish outside their native ranges.

Veined rapa whelk (Rapana venosa) By George Chernilevsky – Own work, Public Domain

Across the studies reviewed, the researchers found that invasive species abundance increased by more than 200 per cent in short-term experiments, while some long-term observations documented far larger increases where species expanded from almost undetectable levels to dominant populations. Although these large percentage increases partly reflect very low starting populations, they demonstrate how quickly invaders can capitalize on changing environmental conditions.

While the study provides strong evidence that climate change generally enhances marine invasions, it also exposes significant weaknesses in current scientific knowledge.

Despite reviewing global evidence, the researchers found that available studies are heavily concentrated in just 4 of the world’s 12 marine realms, with 54 of the 67 studies conducted in the Temperate Northern Atlantic. Even more striking, 52 of those 54 studies examined only one climate stressor—ocean warming.

Pacific oyster, (Magallana gigas) David.Monniaux, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

“This means we still know comparatively little about how invasive species respond to climate change across tropical oceans, the Southern Hemisphere, deep-sea ecosystems, and regions where multiple climate stressors interact simultaneously,” said Cheung.

“In addition, there are few peer-reviewed studies focused on invasive fishes, with most research highlighting marine invertebrates and seaweeds,” noted Smith. “This leaves us with huge knowledge gaps in rapidly changing regions, such as the Arctic, and many developing coastal nations, which face substantial challenges in preparing for future invasions.”

The authors stressed that attention should be given before invasive species become established, prioritizing enhanced biosecurity, early detection and rapid response measures like routine environmental DNA (eDNA) monitoring and improved ballast water management, as well as predictive risk assessment modelling and stronger international cooperation. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions will also remain fundamental because invasive species are likely to become an increasingly important—and often underestimated—driver of biodiversity loss unless both climate action and invasion management are strengthened together.

“Climate change enhances the success of marine invasive species” was published in Global Change Biology.

Tags: biosecurity, China, climate change, eDNA, faculty, fish, heatwaves, invasive species, IOF alumni, IOF postdoctoral fellows, Japan, Korea, marine biogeography, marine ecosystems, molluscs, Nicola Smith, Pacific, Pacific Northwest, predators, seaweed, shellfish, William Cheung

Posted in 2026, IOFNews, News Release | Tagged with biosecurity, China, climate change, eDNA, faculty, fish, heatwaves, invasive species, IOF alumni, IOF postdoctoral fellows, Japan, Korea, marine biogeography, marine ecosystems, molluscs, Nicola Smith, Pacific, Pacific Northwest, predators, seaweed, shellfish, William Cheung

IOF Members Receive SSHRC Discovery Grants

On July 21, UBC researchers received funding through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Two IOF faculty members had projects which receive funding through SSHRC’s Insight Grants program.

Dr. Simon Donner and Dr. Rashid Sumaila

Dr. Simon Donner (Geography, IOF, and IRES) will receive $218,690 over 5 years, for his “Urban Future Walks: Can guided tours promote support for climate solutions and positive climate engagement in urban environments?” project.
Dr. Rashid Sumaila (IOF and SPPGA) is a collaborator on Dr. Jessica Dempsey (Geography)’s project “Beyond the status quo: Political economic barriers to reform and pathways for change in BC’s extractive economy”, which will receive $456,732 over 6 years.

UBC announcement
SSHRC announcement

Posted in 2026, IOF Honours, IOFNews, News Release | Tagged with funding, Rashid Sumaila, Simon Donner, SSHRC

Carl Walters wins paper award

Congratulations to Professor Emeritus Dr. Carl J Walters and IOF alum Michael A Hawkshaw, who were co-authors on the paper “A species-specific catchability model to partition hydroacoustic total salmon counts“ that was named as the North American Journal of Fisheries Management (NAJFM)’s Best Paper of 2025.

Posted in 2026, IOF Honours, IOFNews | Tagged with awards, Carl Walters, honours, Publications

Apply NOW for the 3rd Cohort of the Africa-University of British Columbia (UBC) Oceans and Fisheries Visiting Fellows Program

West African coastline

The UBC’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF) is pleased to open the application period for the third cohort of laureates for its Africa-University of British Columbia (UBC) Oceans and Fisheries Visiting Fellows Program.

Dr. Daniel Pauly and Dr. Rashid Sumaila

This program, established in 2024, by IOF professors Rashid Sumaila and Daniel Pauly, co-winners of the 2023 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. The professors, both of African descent, wanted to expand the opportunity for talented early-career academics from sub-Saharan African universities and research institutes to participate in mutually beneficial research collaborations and build international networks.

Developed with the assistance of the University of Cape Coast, and made possible, in part, due to funding from the Bloomberg Philanthropies Ocean Initiative and a number of individual donors, the Program invites applications from exceptional sub-Saharan African researchers, who hold a PhD or research equivalent and hold an appointment in a Sub-Saharan African academic or research institution. They must also have published a book, or at least two book chapters or peer-reviewed journal articles, and provide letters from academic references.

The core of their application rests on their proposed research proposal, for the work to be undertaken during the Fellowship. This proposal must focus on African ocean or freshwater systems sustainability and conservation project, which the Fellow will work on in partnership with UBC-based scholars. By expanding the networks of both African and UBC researchers, all participants will share and co-create interdisciplinary knowledge and insights that would benefit their universities, their countries, and the world.

Two laureates will be selected from the applicants for the 12-month period. Eleven months are spent engaging with their UBC partner virtually, with the fellow being hosted by their partner at UBC’s Vancouver campus for one month. The fellow’s airfare, accommodation and a per diem are provided, in addition to a sum for research expenses. The total value of each fellowship is $23,000 CAD.

“The program is open to researchers across all academic fields who are focused on ocean sustainability and making the ocean economy work for the people who call Africa home,” said Dr. Sumaila. “We are excited that we are now opening our third iteration.”

The application period for the program opened on July 15, 2026 and will close on (deadline Extended) October 23, 2026.

Application portal

For more details on the program, and to apply, please visit this page: https://oceans.ubc.ca/research/applytoafricaubcprogram/

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Posted in 2026, IOFNews, News Release | Tagged with Africa, Africa-UBC Visiting Fellows Program, Daniel Pauly, East Africa, partnership, Rashid Sumaila, South Africa, Visiting Fellows, West Africa

When used habitat is not always good habitat

Thick-billed murre eating an Arctic cod. Credit: Douglas Noblet

As humans continue to alter and encroach on wildlife habitat, a basic conservation question becomes more urgent: which places do animals truly need in order to survive and thrive?

Many studies try to answer that by looking at where animals go. However, a new study led by UBC’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries researcher Dr. Marie Auger-Méthé and co-authors suggests that this common approach can miss something important. Just because an animal uses a habitat does not necessarily mean that this habitat is good for them. The paper argues that bringing information about animal health and performance into habitat selection studies can change how researchers identify important habitats, and in turn, how conservation decisions are made.

Habitat selection analyses are widely used in ecology and conservation. Researchers use them to identify the environmental conditions animals seem to prefer, and those findings often shape management plans. The new paper, however, points out a long-standing problem: habitats that animals use most often are not always the ones that best support their survival or reproduction. That mismatch can happen for many reasons. Animals may be pushed into poorer habitats by competition, return to places that used to be better in the past, or respond to environmental cues that no longer work in a rapidly changing world. In some cases, this can create ecological traps, where animals continue using habitat that is now harmful to them.

“As humans, we are destroying more and increasingly encroaching on the habitat of many species. It is key that we identify and protect the habitat that is crucial for wildlife to thrive,” said Auger-Méthé.

The study makes the case that habitat use should be interpreted together with measures of how animals are actually doing. These can include body condition, energy gain, injuries, or reproductive success. In other words, instead of only asking where animals go, researchers should also ask whether those places are helping animals stay healthy, raise young, or recover from stress. The authors argue that this kind of information is still surprisingly rare in the habitat selection literature. In their review of 72 recent studies, 82 per cent made conservation or management statements based on habitat selection results, but only 4 per cent included a direct health or fitness characteristic in the analysis. Other individual characteristics, such as sex, were much more common.

“While ecologists have long worked on finding ways to better identify the critical habitat of species, many of the methods currently used are simply based on whether the habitat is used by the animals, and it does not differentiate habitats used based on their quality,” said Auger-Méthé.

Thick-billed murres standing on a ledge at Cape Graham Moore, Nunavut. Credit: Douglas Noblet

To show why this matters, the researchers combined a literature review, simulations, and three case studies. The simulations showed that when a sample includes more animals in poorer condition, standard habitat selection models can give biased results. In one scenario, they could make a genuinely beneficial habitat look unimportant. In another, they could make a lower-quality habitat seem worth protecting. When the health or fitness proxy was included, the models recovered the correct relationships far more reliably.

The three animal case studies showed what this looks like in practice. In thick-billed murres, the researchers included the rate of mass gain as a proxy for energetic benefit. A basic model suggested that the birds mainly selected areas close to the colony. However, once mass gain was included, a more complex picture emerged: birds that gained mass were using a wider range of foraging sites, including areas farther from the colony. Those more distant areas might have looked secondary in a simple analysis, but they may actually be important for helping birds gain energy.

These are glaucous-winged gulls by their nest, numbered so we can track the number of chicks they have. Credit: Shabnam Shadloo

In glaucous-winged gulls, the team used the number of chicks as a proxy for reproductive success. Here too, the story changed when the extra information was included. Gulls with more chicks stayed closer to the colony and used areas with less human impact, while gulls with no chicks ranged farther and selected more human-impacted landscapes. A basic model, by contrast, blurred those differences and landed somewhere in the middle. That matters because it suggests that the habitats used by the most successful breeders are not necessarily the same as those used by birds doing poorly.

In narwhals, the researchers looked at healed scars as a sign of past trauma. In this case, the scars did not seem to change which habitats narwhals selected directly. Instead, they changed how the animals moved. Narwhals with healed scars moved more slowly far from shore and ended up spending more time offshore than unscarred individuals. That result is important because it shows that health and condition can shape animal distribution indirectly, through movement behaviour rather than habitat choice alone.

“Animals, like humans, can make bad decisions; they may use a habitat that is bad for them. This is especially true because we are altering their environment, and so a place that was good for them in the past may now be dangerous,” said Auger-Méthé.

Narwhals. Credit: Marie Auger-Méthé

The broader message of the paper is not that habitat selection studies are flawed, but that they can be improved with information many field programs already collect or could collect more easily in the future. “We propose a simple way to use information on the animals – their health, body weight, number of offspring – to improve our capacity to differentiate good from bad habitats,” Auger-Méthé said. “Being able to do so can help government and conservation agencies focus conservation efforts on the habitats that will really help species to recover and thrive.”

At its core, the study is asking conservation science to go one step further. Not just where animals are, but how well they are doing there. In a world of shrinking and changing habitat, that is an important difference.

Including fitness and health proxies can alter our understanding of habitat selection was led by UBC Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries researcher Dr. Marie Auger-Méthé, with co-authors Fanny Dupont, Alyssa Eby, Kyle H. Elliott, Nigel E. Hussey, Devin A. Lyons, Marianne Marcoux, Allison Patterson, Shabnam Shadloo, and Courtney R. Shuert.

Posted in 2026, IOFNews, News Release | Tagged with faculty, habitats, IOF students, marie, Marie Auger-Methe, narwhals, Research, seabirds, seagulls, SERG

Climate action for blue foods needs people, policy and technology – not one-off fixes

New international study finds fisheries and aquaculture strategies can help reduce emissions and build resilience, but success depends on moving beyond isolated innovations towards equitable, context-specific portfolios of action backed by effective policy.

Oyster farm / aquaculture Credit: Pixabay

Fish, shellfish and aquatic plants — collectively known as “blue foods” — make critical contributions to nutrition, livelihoods, and national economies, and can have lower carbon footprints than other animal-source foods. But their potential contribution to climate action, depends on locally appropriate strategies, sustained investment, effective governance and careful attention to equity, according to a major new international review led by researchers at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF).

Published in Environmental Research: Food Systems, the review evaluated 22 climate mitigation and adaptation strategies across fisheries and aquaculture. It found relatively strong evidence for the mitigation potential of decarbonizing production practices and dietary shifts, and for adaptation benefits from species and gear shifts. However, evidence across strategies remains uneven, highly context-specific and, in some cases, limited.

Giant clam farm in seagrass bed. Photo: Colette Wabnitz

Rather than identifying a single transformative solution, the authors concluded that coordinated investment in complementary, context-specific strategies offers the greatest potential. They recommend integrated portfolios that combine cleaner production, climate-resilient fisheries and aquaculture management, habitat restoration, education and training, social protection, stronger governance, and community capacity-building to maximize climate, food security and livelihood benefits while minimizing unintended environmental and social consequences.

“Blue foods have enormous potential to contribute to climate solutions, but that potential won’t be realized without sustained investment and context-specific planning,” said lead author Aleah Wong, a PhD student in the IOF. “The most effective strategies depend on local ecological, social, and economic conditions, and must carefully balance benefits with trade-offs.”

Climate change is already disrupting fisheries and aquaculture through warming waters, declining oxygen levels, stronger storms, sea level rise, disease outbreaks and shifting species distributions. The review notes that impacts are expected to be greatest in blue food-dependent countries in Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Small Island Developing States.

Women, fishing, drying fish. Credit: AMIT ROY/CC0

“Blue food climate action will only succeed if it works for the people and places most affected by climate change,” said Dr. Colette Wabnitz, co-author and senior researcher at the IOF and Stanford University’s Center for Ocean Solutions, and research affiliate at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. “Small-scale fishers, Indigenous Peoples, women, and coastal communities across the Global South make key contributions to fisheries and aquaculture, yet often face disproportionate climate risks, structural barriers to adaptation, finance and decision-making. Equity is not an add on – it determines whether climate solutions are fair, effective and lasting.”

The researchers also highlight that many climate actions involve trade-offs. Measures that reduce emissions may affect biodiversity, nutrition, livelihoods or equity if poorly designed. For example, interventions that appear beneficial from a narrow climate perspective can create new risks if they overlook food security, ecosystem impacts or existing inequalities. Likewise, technological innovations alone are unlikely to deliver meaningful progress without investments in governance, community capacity, education and social support. The authors argue that blue food climate strategies need to be evaluated as part of wider social-ecological systems, rather than treated as stand-alone technical fixes.

“Climate action for blue foods must place people alongside technology,” said Wong. “Supporting fishers, farmers and coastal communities through education, financial tools and effective governance is just as important as investing in new technologies.”

Feasibility, co-benefits, and trade-offs of climate mitigation and adaptation strategies in blue food systems was published in Environmental Research: Food Systems.

Tags: Africa, aquaculture, aquatic plants, Asia, biodiversity, blue foods, climate change, Colette Wabnitz, fish, food-climate-biodiversity, habitats, IOF students, nutrition, ocean governance, Publications, regional governance, senior researcher, shellfish, Small Island Developing States (SIDS), social sciences, South Asia, Southeast Asia

Posted in 2026, IOFNews, News Release | Tagged with Africa, aquaculture, aquatic plants, Asia, biodiversity, blue foods, climate change, Colette Wabnitz, fish, food-climate-biodiversity, habitats, IOF students, nutrition, ocean governance, Publications, regional governance, senior researcher, shellfish, Small Island Developing States (SIDS), social sciences, South Asia, Southeast Asia

IOF Members Receive NSERC Discovery Grants for Long-Term Research Projects

Today, $630 million in funding through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Research Program was announced by the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions along with Karim Bardeesy, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry, and Dominique O’Rourke, Member of Parliament for Guelph.

Of this, $47.6 million will support 199 new programs and projects led by UBC researchers.

Drs. Villy Christensen, Evgeny Pakhomov, and Curtis Suttle have been awarded a combined $850,000+ in research funding from this program.

The federal Discovery Grants program supports the development and sustainability of diverse, high-quality research in the natural sciences and engineering at Canadian universities, fostering research excellence. A number of IOF faculty members have been awarded Discovery Grants over the years, for their work in a wide range of fields including biodiversity, ecology, and statistics.

Discovery Grants are usually five years in duration and meant to supplement other sources of funding, they do not support the full costs of a research program.

Dr. Villy Christensen

Dr. Villy Christensen, a professor at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and Principal Investigator of the Global Ocean Modelling research group, has been leading the development of Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) since 1990. EwE is an open source ecosystem modelling software used for environmental impact assessment. The EcoOcean model within EwE, developed by Dr. Christensen in 2007, has greatly improved climate change projections, by revealing uncertainties around species shifts, productivity, and ecosystem stability. They have fostered model comparisons, regional case studies, and enhanced simulations of future marine changes, including species distributions and ecosystem dynamics.

Dr. Christensen remarked that, “despite progress, current marine ecosystem models are hampered by insufficient integration of socio-economic factors, human behaviours, cumulative stressors, ecosystem resilience, communication of uncertainty, and stakeholder participation.”

Dr. Christensen received a $248,425 grant for the research program “Evaluating Impact of Climate Change for the Global Ocean”, which will develop a next-generation marine ecosystem model (MEM) platform based on EcoOcean – focusing on complex data integration and socio-economical trade-offs. His long-term goal is to support sustainable ocean management and rapid environmental change, emphasizing impacts on marine life and society, including fisheries and governance.

This research will pursue two aims, (i) scaling global models for regional impact assessment, with the hypothesis that tropical countries will be more affected by changing climates, and (ii) how human and environmental stressors interact – pollution, habitat loss, acidification, overfishing – to determine if these combined impacts are additive or synergistic.

“Overall, this work aims to address climate impacts on biodiversity, fisheries, and ecosystems, producing tools to inform policy, support sustainable development, and guide climate adaptation. Combining robust ecological models with technological and participatory approaches, it advances understanding of complex marine systems and promotes sustainable ocean governance in a changing world,” said Christensen.

Dr. Evgeny Pakhomov

Dr. Evgeny Pakhomov, a professor within the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and UBC’s department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (EOAS), received a $220,000 grant for his research on “Fundamental Macroecology and Energy Pathways in the Mesopelagic Macroplankton and Micronekton Communities”. Dr. Pakhomov is the Principal Investigator for the Marine Zooplankton and Micronekton Laboratory research unit; his interests lie in species ecology ranging from zoo plankton to fish, incorporating ecosystem structure, physical-biological and biochemical coupling, and more recently, the variability and responses of marine ecosystems to climate change.

Dr. Curtis Suttle

Dr. Curtis Suttle, a distinguished professor within the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, UBC’s department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, UBC Botany, UBC Microbiology received a $390,000 grant for his work on “The Imbroglio of Viruses in the Sea”. He is the Principal Investigator of the Marine Virology and Microbiology research unit; he studies environmental science, geobiology, and oceanography with a primary focus on viruses and their role in the environment.

“Viruses are by far the most numerous “life” in the ocean, and are estimated to kill ~20% of the marine biomass daily; yet, our knowledge of these viruses is rudimentary.” Dr. Suttle says the long-term goal of his Discovery Grant program is to determine the impact of viruses on organisms and processes in marine systems through understanding the relationships between specific viruses and their hosts. “Several of our discoveries have transformed our understanding of viruses and viral mediated processes. The proposed research builds on this foundation through three short-term objectives focused on virus discovery in (i) crustacean zooplankton, (ii) prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbes, and (iii) how taxon-specific lysis varies spatially and temporally.” Better understanding viruses and their role in marine mortality allows us an overall stronger grasp of global biogeochemical cycles.

UBC Research announcement

Tags:climate change, Curtis Suttle, ecological modeling, Evgeny Pakhomov, faculty, funding, Macroplankton, marine ecosystems, Marine Zooplankton and Micronekton Laboratory, NSERC, ocean, ocean ecology, Research, Villy Christensen, viruses

Posted in 2026, IOFNews, News Release | Tagged with climate change, Curtis Suttle, ecological modeling, Evgeny Pakhomov, faculty, funding, Macroplankton, marine ecosystems, Marine Zooplankton and Micronekton Laboratory, NSERC, ocean, ocean ecology, Research, Villy Christensen, viruses

IOF at Oceans Past XI 2026 conference

UBC Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries researchers participated in the Oceans Past XI 2026 conference, held June 15-19, 2026, in Victoria, British Columbia.

Dr. Daniel Pauly, UBC Killam Professor in IOF, gave the keynote titled “Shifting Baselines and the Various Pasts of Various Disciplines”
IOF’s new Assistant Professor in the Centre for Indigenous Fisheries, Dr. Hwsyun’yun Skye Augustine, gave the Day 3 Keynote titled “Oceans Past, Food Futures: Ancestral Mariculture and Indigenous Ocean Governance in the Salish Sea and Beyond”. Dr. Augustine also opened the clam Special Session during the conference.
Dr. Meaghan Efford, postdoctoral fellow, gave a talk based on her doctoral dissertation work entitled “Collaborative, transdisciplinary, and community-based archaeology and historical ecology in service of Tsleil-Waututh Nation”.
Dr. Camilla Speller, Associate professor in UBC Department of Anthropology, and IOF associate faculty member Dr. Camilla Speller gave a talk alongside the K’omoks First Nation, “Xaʔaʔgaɬ: Collaborative Research on Ancient Fisheries in the K’ómoks Estuary”.
Max Miner, IOF PhD student, gave a talk during the clam Special Session, “Where are the Geoduck? Ancient DNA-Based Molecular Identification of Fragmentary Archaeological Bivalve Shell and Implications for Nuu-chah-nulth Fisheries Sovereignty in British Columbia”, which won the award for best talk. Congratulations, Max!

Article prepared with notes from Max Miner

Posted in 2026, IOFNews, News Release | Tagged with conferences, Daniel Pauly, Indigenous fisheries, IOF postdoctoral fellows, IOF students, Meaghan Efford, Skye Augustine, Tsleil-Waututh Nation

2026 Peter A. Larkin Award Lecture

2026 Peter A. Larkin Award Lecture. October 29, 2026

Dr. Fabrice Teletchea (France) will be presenting

Domesticating Fish in a Rapidly Changing World

Larkin Award Lecture, October 29, 2026

Posted in 2026, IOF Honours, IOFNews, News Release | Tagged with fish, Larkin Lecture, Seminars and events

Collectivizing Knowledge, Centering Joy

Reflections from Kahsennarò:roks Maddy Deom for National Indigenous Peoples Day | June 21, 2026

Kahsennarò:roks Maddy Deom (Kanien’kehá:ka, settler) is a master’s student at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries. She works closely with Nations – particularly Kahnawakehró:non (people of Kahnawà:ke) – to support their fishing rights and to explore how identity and those rights are deeply connected to teiotién:taron (lake sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens), other fish species, and the St. Lawrence River more broadly.

Last year, under the supervision of RSC College Member Andrea Reid, Kahsennarò:roks attended the Taikura Summit as part of the Tri-Academy Partnership on Indigenous Engagement. There, she learned about the power of “collectivizing,” calling for a future grounded in joy that makes space for Indigenous knowledge, communities, and lived experiences.

Q: To start us off, please introduce yourself!

A: My name is Kahsennarò:roks Maddy Deom. I am both Kanien’kehá:ka and settler, and I grew up right outside my father’s community of Kahnawà:ke, in Chateauguay, Quebec. I did my undergraduate degree in environmental science at the University of British Columbia and am now doing my master’s degree at UBC as well, in Indigenous fisheries.

Kahsennarò:roks Maddy Deom

Q: Can you tell us more about your studies in Indigenous fisheries and conservation?

A: I am studying at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, with the Centre for Indigenous Fisheries. We are a collective of students, researchers, knowledge holders, and learners who work with various Indigenous communities and Nations across Canada, the US and internationally. As academics, we work with Nations to support their fisheries, fishing tools and techniques, and their inherent fishing rights. I, in particular, am working with Kahnawakehró:non (people of Kahnawà:ke) to learn about our relationships with teiotién:taron (lake sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens), and how our identities and fishing rights are tied to this species, other fish, and the St. Lawrence River in general.

Q: What inspired you to pursue research in this area?

A: I have loved doing work in environmental sciences since I began my post-secondary journey. Specifically, I enjoy work in ecology, biology, and Indigenous knowledge. I completed my Quebec CEGEP diploma in environmental sciences, then continued in that field in my undergraduate degree at the University of British Columbia. While in my undergraduate studies, I worked for many labs that did work in ecology and biology, and in the Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Health. While I loved working with these groups and learned so much from my experiences, I wanted to combine the focuses of all the labs I had worked in to work in Indigenous ecological and health contexts. A professor I had worked with previously pointed me to Dr. Andrea Reid and her team, the Centre for Indigenous Fisheries (CIF), and encouraged me to speak with her and see about working as a research assistant for her. And so, I began my career with the CIF in 2022 and have now become a student under Dr. Reid’s supervision.

Q: Last November, you travelled to Aotearoa New Zealand to attend the Taikura Summit as part of the Tri-Academy Partnership on Indigenous Engagement. What was that experience like?

A: It was a special experience to listen to many Indigenous researchers and scholars speak honestly about how the academy does and doesn’t serve us. It gave us a chance to reflect on why we are in the research/academia space – we want to do good work for our communities. With the presidents of each academy present, we were able to express our needs going forward as a joint society and in academia. The presidents seemed very receptive to our discussions, and they seemed willing to implement those changes.

It was also my first time speaking publicly about my master’s work. I felt comfortable speaking about my academic experience in front of this crowd, particularly because I knew that they would relate in part to what I was speaking of. I don’t think I would be as prepared to present at a non-Indigenous-focused summit or conference.

Q: What were some of your biggest takeaways from the summit?

A: I noted that those attending the summit were re-affirming their reasoning for being in their fields of work. Networking with the other participants allowed us to learn about others’ inspirations for entering academia, because of their families, their communities, their connections and reconnections to their Nations, the injustices and the joys that they experienced, etc. I feel like these new and old connections reminded us that we are on the right path. Or it helped us realign, and remember that we are meant to bring our learnings and teachings back to our communities.

I was also in awe of how diverse our fields of work were. Not only throughout the entire Tri-Academy, but also within the Canadian delegation. It was affirming to see that Indigenous knowledge systems belong throughout all disciplines in the academy.

Q: How do you see those lessons being applied beyond the summit — in communities, research, or policy?

A: My hope is that bringing learnings and teachings back to our communities will contribute to our self reliance as Nations. I am so grateful to the non-Indigenous folks who work within community in good ways, and there will always be a place for them. However, there is a need for positions to be filled by community members, and a way to achieve that is to train our people directly. In my field of environmental science and protection, in particular, this is vital. Environment protection will always require scientific communication as long as we are working with external governments, so it is vital to pass this knowledge on. Our community members are already well equipped with environmental knowledge, so let’s support them to continue their work as land and water defenders.

Q: In a recent reflection piece, you mentioned the power of “collectivizing.” What does collectivizing mean to you, and what does it look like in practice?

A: I believe I discussed this in relation to Tahu Kukutai’s words at the Taikura summit when she was discussing why we called the gathering a summit rather than a conference. The gathering wasn’t only a chance to hear a select few people speak. It was an opportunity for everyone involved to be heard, to meet one another, and to continue our relationships after the conference. I think that is what collectivizing means to me – it’s to work continuously with each other to achieve our individual and collective goals. At this summit, we discussed perhaps even having a meeting outside of the Royal Society, so that we can keep in more frequent contact with each other and invite Indigenous peoples from other Nations, too.

Kahsennarò:roks Maddy Deom

Q: In your opinion, why is it important to celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day?

A: I think it is important for us to celebrate Indigenous peoples every day. Native people are constantly celebrating ourselves and each other, and it feels wonderful to recognize those throughout the world, too. Particularly, I think it’s important for non-Indigenous people to recognize Indigenous People’s Day as a reminder that we are sovereign Nations, that we have relationships with the land and each other that pre-date colonization, and that we are not a monolithic ethnic group in Canada. It’s a time to remember that this type of reflection is necessary for all times of the year. It’s a day to recognize that Native joy, knowledge, love, policy, ingenuity, invention, art, defiance, etc., are alive and well!

Q: In one word: what’s a hope you have for the future?

A: Joy. As I’ve mentioned before, joy is constant, but I hope our joy can be front and centered and recognized by others as a key need for our wellbeing.

This article was originally published on the Royal Society of Canada website.

Posted in 2026, IOFNews, News Release | Tagged with Centre for Indigenous Fisheries, CIF, conferences, Indigenous conservation, Indigenous culture, Indigenous fisheries, IOF students, Royal Society of Canada

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