FISH 506H / STAT 547N
Statistics in Ecology and Marine Sciences
FISH 506H / STAT 547N Credits: 1.5
Data in ecology and marine sciences are frequently associated with large challenges. Controlled experiments are often difficult and observational studies are often associated with missing data and measurement error. This class will introduce some of the challenges of using statistics to answer questions in ecology and marine sciences and the statistical tools developed to handle them. Topics covered in this class are: missing data, multiple imputation, censored and truncated data, GLMs, overdispersion, hidden Markov models, and state-space models. This course is a statistics class for graduate students in the Department of Statistics (STAT) and the Ocean and Fisheries Graduate program (OCF). This class is intended for students with good statistics background and some familiarity with R. The class is not recommended for students with little experience analysing data and those with limited R programming skills.
Marie Auger-Méthé
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Governance and Relationality in Indigenous Fisheries
FISH 506I Credits: 3
The main pillars of this course are Indigenous languages and laws, principles and ethics, governance and sovereignty, and methodologies and practices as they pertain to Indigenous fisheries and aquatic ecosystems and, critically, their care and maintenance in the truly long term.
This course creates an opportunity for network-building and co-learning across the province of so-called British Columbia and beyond. Students can enrol as graduate students (FISH 506i / EOSC 448) and undergraduate or non-degree seeking students, and we welcome registrants from and beyond UBC. Admission to this course is by application (linked here once posted each year), and given our focus and intentions for this course, priority access is given to BC First Nations.
Andrea Reid
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Managing nature: the case of fisheries
FISH 506J Credits: 3
Course will be taught online, with part of the audience at UBC and part at Paris-Dauphine. It is projected that available technology will allow 7 sessions to be held in-person at UBC, with the Dauphine audience attending remotely, and 7 sessions to be held in-person at Dauphine, with the UBC audience attending remotely. If technology fails, 12 sessions will be held remotely at both sides, and 2 sessions will be held, in-person and separately, at each site.
Rashid Sumaila and Ivar Ekeland (Dauphine)
Not offered in 2023/24
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Effective scientific poster communication
FISH 506M Credits: 1
Most scientists, particularly in the early phases of their career, are expected to present the results of their research in the form of a conference poster. Yet unlike oral presentations, students receive little training on this mode of scientific communication. The course material will be conveyed through a series of weekly instructor and student-led seminars that include presentations and group discussion. This course is offered in-person only. The course will consist of 5 modules (focal topics) covered over the term. Presentations will be made by the instructor, with each student expected to also make a presentation on one of the focal topics. It is expected that each week will entail two to three hours of work, including self-directed study, presentations, and group discussion.
David Rosen
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Quantitative Analysis of Fisheries 2
FISH 505 Credits: 3
This course examines advanced concepts and methods in fish population dynamics and stock assessment, with emphasis on design of harvest policies for sustainable fisheries. Through a mixture of lecture and tutorial sessions, students learn to apply the main methods used today for fisheries assessment, along with pitfalls and examples of where these methods have failed. Presentations on harvest policy design range from simple estimation of targets and reference points to development of experimental, adaptive management policies.
Murdoch McAllister
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Pathways to Indigenous Community-Based Research
FISH 506P Credits: 3
The Indigenous Community-Based Researcher Pathway was established by IOF’s Indigenous Initiatives Committee (with unanimous IOF support) in 2023. We created this Pathway to enable graduate students to complete their program requirements at a distance, if desired, in whole or in part, so they may reside in their Indigenous community context(s) during their studies. By creating a flexible learning environment for students, this Pathway supports a range of UBC and IOF institutional and strategic goals, namely UBC’s Indigenous Strategic Plan
Offered on case by case basis
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Fisheries and Population Modelling Methods Using R
FISH 506R Credits: 3
Since about 2000 the most commonly used programming language for fisheries and ecological modeling and data analysis has become R (R Core Team 2019) and undergraduate and graduate courses in ecology and statistics have become commonly taught with R as the statistical software of choice. R is commonly used among fisheries scientists and ecologists in government agencies, academia, non-governmental organizations and consultancies. R is used, among other things, for conventional statistical analyses, for plotting purposes, to code up computer simulation models representing fish, invertebrate and mammal population dynamics, and to manage implementations of Bayesian statistical packages such as WinBUGS, JAGS and STAN.
Murdoch McAllister
Not offered 2026/7
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Community Driven Science: Developing Tools For Partnered Research With A Focus On Indigenous Communities and Aquatic Science
FISH 506Y Credits: 3
This course will provide students and those new to community-driven research–especially in partnership with Indigenous communities–with the knowledge, skills and ethical foundations needed to engage in anti-colonial research. With an emphasis on fisheries and aquatic research, this course challenges traditional academic approaches where students will explore how to collaborate with Indigenous communities to co-create knowledge and engage in research supporting Indigenous sovereignty, knowledge systems and priorities.
Sara Cannon under the Centre for Indigenous Fisheries
Term 2 2026
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Quantitative Analysis of Fisheries 1
FISH 504 Credits: 3
This course provides an introduction to the quantitative theories of fishery dynamics, and the use of various types of analytical methods for fishery assessment. Lectures are supplemented with tutorial sessions, mainly using Microsoft Excel, where students first work on set problems in class, followed by extended analyses to consolidate understanding and familiarity with methods of analysis.
Murdoch McAllister
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Ecosystem Modeling with Ecopath with Ecosim
FISH 501 Credits: 3
The course is focused on how the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE, www.ecopath.org) modelling framework can be used to address scientific questions related to food web modelling, and notably how to address questions as part of an Ecosystem Based Management process.
Villy Christensen
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