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Not everyone can open up a fish’s stomach and find their future. For Vanessa Fladmark that is how it began.

As an undergraduate student, Fladmark assisted another student with their research by cutting open herring stomachs and found it very much like being a detective. Now a Masters of Oceanography student in the Department of Earth, Oceans and Atmospheric Sciences and the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, Fladmark continues to explore the puzzle of fish diets by examining their stomach contents. She estimates that she has, so far, examined over a thousand fish stomachs, with many more to scrutinize as she works to understand the marine ecosystem along British Columbia’s coast.

Q. How did you become a researcher?

Fladmark: I have always enjoyed the natural world. I grew up as a member of the Yahgujaanas Raven clan in the Haida Nation on Haida Gwaii. My mother was not a “scientist,” but she was very much my role model. She was a Forest Guardian; it was her job to study the forest and write policies to protect it. I grew up playing in the intertidal and exploring the wilderness, but also enjoyed learning so I knew university would be the right step for me. Now I’ve found this path in ocean science and marine biology, so I can protect the oceans in the same way that my mother does the forest. We can cover all bases.

Q. What is your research focused on? Why is it significant?

Fladmark: Examining stomach contents helps us understand what is going on in an ecosystem. What type of food are fish eating? Is there enough? What’s its nutritional value? As well, salmon are an important cultural icon, especially along this coast, and my research focuses on salmon species, specifically pink and chum. The species are huge in terms of cultural, socio-economic and ecological importance. It is, therefore, very important to understand how they cope with different foraging conditions, feeding practices and food availability limits, particularly in their juvenile stage when they are very vulnerable and need to eat a lot so they can survive during the ocean part of their migration.

Q. What has been your experience as an Indigenous woman in this field? Do you think it differs from others?

Fladmark: My experience here at UBC, as a woman, has been very supportive. I am part of two labs, the Marine Zooplankton and Micronekton Laboratory with Dr. Evgeny Pakhomov and the Pelagic Ecosystems Lab with Dr. Brian Hunt and both labs have a lot of women researchers. It is great to be in an inclusive environment with other female grad students to talk to. Being a woman in the sciences, especially in grad school, is very competitive, and it has been great to have that camaraderie. That said, being Indigenous is a whole different situation. When I started there were no Indigenous people except me; I very much felt like an outsider. I felt like I had to leave that identity under wraps. Since then, we’ve attracted more Indigenous students to the sciences, and are building an Indigenous fisheries research unit with an Indigenous fisheries professor joining UBC soon. I feel like there is more of a presence, an acceptance, and even a celebration.

Q. What do you think can be done to get more women, more Indigenous women, involved in science?

Fladmark: We need more role models, more women in leadership roles. Growing up, science didn’t seem like a viable career that was meaningful for my community. Having someone to look up to, seeing that they can be successful in this field, understanding that, yes, there are challenges, but they can be overcome. Having more women, Indigenous people, and people of all different backgrounds can help students see themselves in this role and gives them someone who they can look up to.

Q. What has been your biggest challenge as a researcher? What advice would you give to young women and girls interested in a career in science?

Fladmark: The biggest issues for me is self-doubt, not feeling confident in myself and my abilities. I am sensitive to criticism, which is hard in grad school where you receive feedback all the time. Much of it comes from a good place, but it is hard not to take personally. I compare myself to others, and always try to be all things to all people. Holding yourself to a very high standard really burns you out. That said, I’ve already published, and even won a best talk session at a conference. I am getting less nervous each time I present and have received positive validation. I was also put forward as a role model to young students and undergraduates. I tell myself that I must be doing something right, but it is a process.

Advice that I could give to my younger self; is that, if you really want to do it and you have the passion, you can do it. It takes hard work and time and you will face self-doubt, but the only thing stopping you is you. Once you get out of your own way, an entire universe of possibilities opens up. You will need to build support structures: I came from a town of 700, with one grocery store and no stoplights. I didn’t even know how to use a bus! But you can build a supportive community, in your department, friend groups, or for Indigenous people, at the UBC Longhouse.

Don’t give up.

Juvenile pink salmon stomach from the Discovery Islands, with a blue macroplastic straw piece inside. Photo: Vanessa Fladmark

Q. Of all the research you’ve done so far, what has been the most astounding thing that you’ve discovered?

Fladmark: I found a piece of a plastic straw in a salmon stomach. I had done a project on shoreline litter and expected to find tiny little plastic bits in fish stomachs, but this piece of plastic was bigger than the fish could have passed, bigger than its intestinal tract. It was sitting in the stomach, with very little other food. If we hadn’t found the salmon to collect as a sample, it probably wouldn’t have survived. It was a very stark finding. We have to do more to keep plastic from ending up in our ocean ecosystems.

Q. What do you love about being a scientist?

Fladmark: Learning to understand the natural world. There is so much we don’t know about the ocean, but we do know that we need the ocean to live. There is so much mystery and allure and with every answer we get there are a thousand more questions, more discoveries to be made. That is why we have to protect and conserve our oceans for the future.

This article is one of the many stories celebrating International Day of Women and Girls in Science, which takes place every year on February 11. Spearheaded by the United Nations, this day promotes full and equal access to participation in science, technology, and innovation for women and girls. The Faculty of Science is supporting this day by featuring ten inspiring women researchers who are making their mark at UBC and beyond. science.ubc.ca/womeninscience.

Tags: fish, IOF students, marine ecosystems, Pelagic Ecosystems Lab, plastic, salmon, women, Women in Science