Ecosystem science for ocean decisions · Pacific Canada
I use ecosystem science to inform sustainable management of fisheries and oceans.
My models trace change from physics to fisheries using techniques from ecosystem ecology, computer science, ocean and atmospheric sciences, and fisheries science.
About
I'm an ecosystem scientist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and a PhD candidate in UBC's Global Ocean Modelling Lab with Prof. Villy Christensen. Since 2025 I have been managing a group of research scientists and field and laboratory biologists at the Pacific Science Enterprise Centre in West Vancouver, BC.
Much of my work has been in partnership with First Nations. With Tsleil-Waututh Nation, I helped reconstruct the pre-contact shoreline of Burrard Inlet through participatory mapping and a two-eyed seeing approach. As part of the federal team on the Great Bear Sea MPA network, planned with 17 First Nations and the Province of BC, I co-led technical analyses on behalf of DFO. I have also briefed senior management, contributed to Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat peer reviews, and testified to Parliament's Fisheries Committee on how DFO uses science.
Today I build end-to-end ecosystem models of the Strait of Georgia, starting from HOTSSea, a four-decade ocean hindcast, to weigh competing explanations for salmon declines, such as food supply versus seal predation, before management acts on either. I also develop FIPEX, which agencies use to decide which river barriers to fix first.
From science to decisions
Research matters most when it changes what people decide. Here is where my work has fed into management, policy and planning.
Marine conservation
As part of the federal team, co-led gap and representation analyses that measured how existing and proposed protection met conservation objectives for the Great Bear Sea MPA network, endorsed in 2023.
→ Network action plan · DFO Prix d'Excellence · BC Premier's Award
Policy
Expert testimony to the House of Commons Fisheries Committee on data integration and how the department scopes its science questions, including seal–salmon interactions.
→ Committee report to the Minister, 48 recommendations (2023)
Fisheries & salmon
Ecosystem models that compare bottom-up food supply with top-down predation for juvenile coho and Chinook, so environmental causes are tested alongside seal predation before management acts.
→ Advice to the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project and DFO management
Freshwater habitat
FIPEX and the Dendritic Connectivity Index score how dams and culverts fragment rivers and rank restoration options by return on investment.
→ Used by DFO, Parks Canada and Memorial University
The Strait of Georgia Ecosystem Model
SOGEM is a set of linked models. Each layer passes its output up to the next, so a change in winds or river flow can be traced through plankton blooms to salmon, seals and killer whales.
Ocean physics · NEMO
A 1.5 km hindcast of temperature, salinity, currents and mixing, 1980–2018.
Published 2025Plankton · Ecospace
Light, mixing and simple nutrient dynamics drive diatoms, flagellates and zooplankton across space and season.
In revisionFood web · Ecopath with Ecosim
Forage fish, salmon life stages, hake, seabirds, seals, whales and fisheries, fitted to decades of time series.
In preparationEnd to end
The coupled system, used to compare bottom-up food supply with top-down predation as drivers of juvenile salmon survival.
PhD final chapterAn interactive 3D tour of the SOGEM food web is in development. A link will appear here when it launches.
Research
PhD · 2018–present
Linked models that follow energy from ocean physics through plankton to salmon, seals and orcas, used to test why juvenile salmon survival declined.
Ocean physics · 2020–2025
A 1.5 km NEMO hindcast of temperature, salinity and mixing from 1980 to 2018. It is the physical base of SOGEM and is open for others to use.
Marine planning · 2014–2026
Part of the federal team on a marine protected area network planned with 17 First Nations and the Province of BC, co-leading representation and gap analyses for DFO.
Freshwater · 2008–present
Lead developer of FIPEX and the Dendritic Connectivity Index, open GIS tools for scoring how dams and culverts fragment river networks.
Collaboration · 2020–2022
Helped Tsleil-Waututh Nation reconstruct Burrard Inlet's pre-contact shoreline through participatory mapping and two-eyed seeing.
Talks & appearances
Jun 2026 · Invited
Sunshine Coast Ocean Festival (public talk)
A public talk on why coho and Chinook survival fell in the early 1980s, and how a reconstructed ocean history (HOTSSea) and ecosystem simulations help test what changed for young salmon in the Strait.
May 2026 · Panel
Reimagining the Future of Oceans and Fisheries: UBC Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries 10th Anniversary Symposium (moderator: Nathan Bennett, WWF)
How knowledge reaches policy and management in oceans and fisheries. I spoke on integrative ecosystem science since Holling and Walters, the data-synthesis gap that has slowed ecosystem-based management, and how AI tools are now closing it.
Jan 2025 · Invited
Salish Sea Science Roundtable, Puget Sound Institute (University of Washington), co-hosted with Fisheries and Oceans Canada
How ocean conditions, lower trophic level dynamics and species interactions shaped the Strait of Georgia over four decades, from linking Ecospace with a custom NEMO hindcast. Recorded and posted on the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound, where it has the most views of the series' 65+ videos.
May 2022 · Testimony
House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans (FOPO), 44th Parliament, Meeting 21
Invited testimony on data integration, how DFO scopes its science questions, and predator–prey interactions in the Strait of Georgia. The Committee's 2023 report made 48 recommendations to the Minister.
Contact
Interested in ecosystem modelling of the Salish Sea, the HOTSSea hindcast, or FIPEX? The best way to reach me is LinkedIn.