Winners of the IOF student awards/scholarships
The Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF) is pleased to announce the winners of the IOF student awards/scholarships:
Please join us in congratulating:
- Stephanie Moore (PhD OCF), who has won the Cecil and Kathleen Morrow Scholarship
- Samara Polwatta (PhD OCF), who has won the COSMOS International Graduate Travel
- Grace Melchers (MSc OCF) who has won the Lawrence Edward Hassel Graduate Field Research Award in Fisheries
- Deniz Coskuner (MSc OCF) and Grace Melchers (MSc OCF), who have won the Brian Jessop Graduate Award in Freshwater and Diadromous Fisheries
- Julia Mayer (PhD OCF), who has won the Richard J and Julia Krejsa Scholarship in Oceans and Fisheries
- Tatiana Chamorro (PhD IRES), who has won the Sumaila-Volvo Graduate Prize in Environmental Sustainability
Congratulations to all the winners!
IOF researchers receive federal research funding
On July 9, 2025, the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, announced $1.3 billion in federal research funding has been awarded through a suite of research programs administered by the three federal research granting agencies—the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
Congratulations to the IOF researchers who received funding:
2025 Discovery Grants
McAllister, Murdoch: Quantifying the mechanisms for declines in productivity of Pacific salmon and the effectiveness of restorative measures
NSERC Research Tools and Instruments grants
Hunt, Brian: Fatty acids for ecology. Co-applicants: Bradbury, Harold; Pakhomov, Evgeny
Partnership Development Grants
Speller, Camilla (Anthropology and IOF Associate faculty member): Xaʔaʔgaɬ: Documenting the long-term history and Indigenous management of Pacific salmon populations in K’ómoks traditional territory
Tags: Brian Hunt, Camilla Speller, ecology, fatty acids, Murdoch McAllister, Pacific, salmon
Addressing gendered impacts of climate change and IUU in small-scale fisheries
Small-scale fisheries (SSFs) supply more than half of all fish consumed worldwide and provide food security and livelihoods for millions of people globally, particularly in the Global South. Yet, SSFs are increasingly threatened by two interconnected issues: climate change and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. As a result, there is an increasing need to protect the marine ecosystems surrounding SSFs and build resilience in the communities that depend on them. Within local communities, access to resources, decision-making power, and adaptive capacity are shaped by gender, yet its role in influencing vulnerability and resilience to these threats is often overlooked.
In a recent UBC study, researchers investigated the gendered impacts of climate change and IUU fishing and offered community-driven approaches to foster resilience, equity, and sustainability in SSFs across climate-sensitive regions. “The intersectional approach allowed us to unpack how climate and governance stressors compound gendered vulnerabilities differently across regions,” says Ayodele Oloko, PhD candidate at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and lead author.
Tackling the twin threats to SSFs through a holistic framework
The researchers synthesized 189 scholarly articles examining gender-related dimensions of climate change and IUU fishing to gain a holistic understanding of the impacts. “Framing these threats as interconnected exposes the limits of siloed interventions,” explains Oloko.
While the impacts of climate change and IUU fishing, such as forced displacement and dwindling fish stocks, threaten the well-being of people who depend on SSFs, several intersecting socioeconomic factors increase the vulnerability and hinder the adaptive capacity of women in particular. For example, women typically occupy ‘invisible’, but essential, roles in SSFs, yet they often lack economic protections or access to alternative livelihoods that might buffer against climate-induced environmental change and the systematic depletion of fish stocks.
Many women face declining incomes while shouldering the burden of maintaining household food security. In some cases, the economic fallout has pushed women into unsafe alternative work, where they are unable to access the same resources or recognition as their male counterparts. These intersecting stressors leave women with fewer options to adapt and further entrench cycles of vulnerability and inequality.
“Women, fishing, drying fish”.
Credit: AMIT ROY. Licensed under CC BY 0.
Fostering resilience to climate change and IUU
To address the gender inequity in SSFs across the world, the researchers provided adaptation strategies tailored to local contexts. “Local context allows us to centre communities’ lived experiences, especially those of women, and to design responses that reflect local realities,” explains Oloko. While structural barriers often limit women’s opportunities to adapt, they highlight that women in SSFs nonetheless play critical roles in sustaining community resilience, for example, by maintaining informal safety nets or preserving critical ecological knowledge. “If we want to effectively address threats of climate change and IUU fishing in SSFs, then we must recognize and invest in women’s capacity to lead adaptation efforts,” says Dr. Rashid Sumaila, University Killam Professor at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, senior author of the study.
Inclusive governance, equitable resource access, and investments in gender-disaggregated data will be essential to ensure SSFs are not only resilient in the future but also just and sustainable. “Sustainable fisheries are as much about people as they are about fish,” says Oloko. “Ultimately, resilience is not just about adapting to change but about transforming the structures that produce vulnerability in the first place.”
Credit: Keegan Checks
The study, “Gender dynamics, climate change threats and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing“, co-authored by Ayodele Oloko, Ilyass Dahmouni, Philippe Le Billon, Louise Teh, William Cheung, Astrid Sánchez-Jiménez, Ibrahim Issifu, and U. Rashid Sumaila, was published in Discover Sustainability, Volume 6, article number 494 (2025).
Tags: Africa, climate change, faculty, gender, Global South, Ibrahim Issifu, Illegal fishing, Ilyass Dahmouni, IOF postdoctoral fellows, IOF Research Associates, IOF students, IUU fishing, Louise Teh, Philippe le Billon, Rashid Sumaila, small-scale fisheries, William Cheung, women, women in fishing
IOF PhD student wins Raja Rosenbluth Award for Women in Biological Sciences
Congratulations to IOF and Department of Geography PhD student Salome Buglass, who has won the Raja Rosenbluth Award for Women in Biological Sciences.
The Raja Rosenbluth Award for Women in Biological Sciences is offered annually for a female graduate student studying in the field of biological sciences. This award is in honour of Raja Rosenbluth’s long career in the area of Biological Sciences, and recognizes her research, mentorship and guidance of many graduate students with whom she worked. his award is for a female graduate student who has shown success in her previous studies. and where such an award will significantly help her to pursue her career in the Biological Sciences (Biological Science is meant to include diverse areas within UBC’s Faculty of Science, comprising but not limited to: Biology, Biochemistry Genetics, Genomics, Molecular Biology, Bioinformation, Ecology, and Zoology). The award is made on the recommendation of the Faculty of Science, in consultation with the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
Salome Buglass
As an Afro-Caribbean Latina woman, Buglass also seeks to be a role model for today’s youth, addressing the underrepresentation of female scientists of colour in exploratory research on the ocean’s last frontier. Buglass aspires to break through the glass ceiling and ascend to the role of a senior researcher/professor, leading impactful research programs in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Congratulations, Salome!
Wildfires could be harming our oceans and disrupting their carbon storage
Wildfires pollute waterways and could affect their ability to sequester carbon, recent University of British Columbia research shows.
Dr. Brian Hunt, professor in the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF), and Emily Brown, IOF research scientist, discuss how wildfires affect our waters and what this means in a changing climate.
Wildfire smoke drifts over Hope, B.C. Image credit: Emily Brown
What did you find about how fire affects water?
BH: We focused on the mighty Fraser River basin. When forests burn, they release ash, soil particles and chemicals into the environment. In a recent study, which analyzed water quality and wildfire data, we were able to link increases in the concentrations of compounds like arsenic and lead, as well as nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, to fires which had burned within the river’s basin months prior.
Using monitoring data collected by Environment Canada over the last 20 years, we calculated that up to 16.3 per cent of the variation in water quality could be attributed to wildfires. While that number might seem small, the Fraser River system is large with a lot of natural variation, so being able to attribute that much change to a singular source is surprising.
Most of the Fraser River is not used for drinking water, and our drinking water is treated, so human health isn’t at risk in that sense. The compounds measured occur naturally in rivers, but our research shows that ongoing increases in the occurrence and intensity of wildfires could impact downstream marine ecosystems. For example, increased wildfire driven nutrient supply can lead to excessive algae blooms, including toxic species, that ultimately lower oxygen and harm fish, shellfish and other animals.
EB: We also found that fire had both immediate and delayed effects on water quality, depending on how close they are to rivers. Fires in the immediate area of a river influenced water quality more quickly, due to quick mobilization of ash, nutrients and contaminants, while fires further away from rivers showed delayed effects, with their influence on water quality observed up to 12 months later.
The concern is that fire severity and frequency is increasing in this province, which could lead to worsening water quality for the whole ecosystem.
How could wildfires change the ocean’s contribution to climate change?
BH: Black carbon is formed when fires burn the carbon in trees. Black carbon cycles very slowly in the environment, especially the particulate form, and may sequester carbon from the atmosphere when it is buried in the ocean.
EB: In a study earlier this year, we found that there is an important seasonal aspect to this. Most of the water in the Fraser River currently comes from snowmelt, but with climate change, this could shift to being more rain-driven in the future. This change could lead to more rapidly degradable dissolved black carbon being exported to the ocean, which means that this carbon sequestration may lessen in the future and black carbon could become an additional source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
What can we do?
BH: As wildfire frequency and intensity continue to rise in B.C., we need to better understand the cascading effects of fire across systems, and to integrate this knowledge into land, water and climate resilience planning. Knowing that fire plays such a significant role in water quality in this region, and having now identified some of the important indicators of fire effects, will help managers monitor water quality more closely after wildfires. We also need to research the largely unknown effects of fire on coastal ocean ecosystems in B.C.
EB: Fire is the major driver of landscape processes in the Fraser River basin, and Indigenous nations have applied fire to these landscapes for millennia to manage resources and protect their communities. Colonial fire suppression has led to fuel buildup across the province. We need to return B.C. to a more natural fire regime, including by supporting Indigenous-led fire stewardship through increased cultural and prescribed burning, the removal of jurisdictional and permitting barriers, sustained funding for training and equipment, and the establishment of Indigenous-led governance and decision-making structures.
Tags: Brian Hunt, British Columbia, carbon, climate change, coastal ecosystems, coastal environment, Fraser River, freshwater, IOF alumni, IOF students, marine ecosystems, pollutants, wildfire
Paper on sustainable trade under CITES is a ‘Rising Star’
Congratulations to alum Tanvi Vaidyanathan, and Dr. Sarah Foster and Dr. Amanda Vincent, whose paper “A practical approach to meeting national obligations for sustainable trade under CITES” won third place in Conservation Biology’s ‘Rising Star’ award competition.
The Rising Star award considers all student-led papers published in Conservation Biology in 2024. This award is judged by a group of their editors and aims to recognize outstanding student researchers and communicators.
The future of Pacific salmon: Community dialogues underscore the urgent need for collaborative restoration
Thirteen public meetings to gather knowledge from local and Indigenous communities in support of salmon rebuilding and recovery in the Pacific Northwest.
A pair of Chinook caught in the ocean
Credit: Nick Longrich
In spring 2024, researchers from the UBC Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries conducted the Salmon Dialogues; Thirteen (13) public meetings across BC to collate local community knowledge, with the goal of more effectively rebuilding Pacific salmon production. Participants included First Nations, community members, stewardship groups, consultants, recreational fishing, finfish aquaculture, and government.
Feedback revealed a collective desire for continued commitment in the form of a more collaborative, coordinated approach to the conservation and protection of Pacific salmon across BC. In support of this direction, six recommendations emerged:
Fisher hold fresh caught salmon
- The protection of existing wild populations and habitats should be the priority.
- A more localized or regional process for restoration is needed.
- Cumulative effect assessments over the life cycle of salmon should be incorporated.
- More consistent support for community engagement and stewardship is needed.
- Science that is based on community knowledge and engagement should be supported.
- A salmon restoration endowment should be established to ensure core annual support.
In addition to these community dialogues, interviews were conducted with salmon researchers, providing complementary and independent insights. Reinforcing many of the views expressed in the community discussions, these insights highlighted ongoing challenges to salmon despite conservation efforts, fragmented and ineffective restoration strategies, gaps in monitoring and evaluating restoration projects, the importance of adequate government support, the need for integrated watershed and marine management, and enhanced collaboration among science, communities, and Indigenous knowledge.
The Community Discussion on the Future of Pacific Salmon: Indigenous and Local Knowledge and Needs (Salmon Dialogues) was made possible with funding from the University of British Columbia (UBC) – Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).
The Principal Investigator was Dr. William Cheung, Director of the UBC Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries with the project design, leadership and implementation led by Dr. Brian Riddell and Deana Machin, Project Coordinator and Senior Indigenous Advisor with the Indigenous Watersheds Initiative.
- Learn more about Salmon Dialogues.
- Read the full report on the community dialogues.
- Learn more about IOF’s Pacific salmon research.
Tags: Aboriginal fisheries, Brian Riddell, British Columbia, Chinook salmon, community, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, fisheries management, Indigenous fisheries, Indigenous Watersheds Initiative, Pacific Ocean, recreational fisheries, salmon, Salmon Dialogues, watersheds, William Cheung