Nuu Chah Nulth Tribal Council

In this paper, we argue that Indigenous data sovereignty (IDS) is vital for addressing threats to ecosystems, as well as for Indigenous Peoples re-establishing and maintaining sovereignty over their territories. Indigenous knowledge-holders face pressure from non-Indigenous scientists to collaborate to address environmental problems, while the open data movement is pressuring them to make their data public. We examine the role of IDS in the context of cumulative effects and climate change that threaten salmon-bearing ecosystems in British Columbia, guided by content from an online workshop in June 2022 and attended exclusively by a Tier-1 audience (First Nations knowledge-holders and/or technical staff working for Nations). Attention to data is required for fruitful collaborations between Indigenous communities and non-Indigenous researchers to address the impacts of climate change and the cumulative effects affecting salmon-bearing watersheds in BC. In addition, we provide steps that Indigenous governments can take to assert sovereignty over data, recommendations that external researchers can use to ensure they respect IDS, and questions that external researchers and Indigenous partners can discuss to guide decision-making about data management. Finally, we reflect on what we learned during the process of co-creating materials.

Angel, E., D. N. Edwards, S. Hawkshaw, C. Wor, and C. E. Parlee. 2019. An indicator framework to support comprehensive approaches to sustainable fisheries management. Ecology and Society 24(4):12. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11242-240412

Career counselors frequently encounter clients who are at high risk for career and life development difficulties. Research suggests there is a connection between resiliency and successful career development in high‐risk clients. Many high‐risk individuals have poor decision‐making skills and lack motivation to succeed in life and career development. This article describes a career resiliency framework in which career resiliency is best understood within the context of psychological resiliency. Specifically, this article explicates how career counseling from a resiliency theory perspective may promote successful career development for populations dealing with multiple barriers.

Abstract Estimates of population size, required for most ecological investigations, are often achieved by mark–recapture experiments, frequently by applying pooled or stratified Petersen estimators. Unfortunately, the closure assumption required by Petersen estimators is frequently violated in the estimation of salmonid escapement, even though the consequences of this violation have been known for decades. We illustrate how biologists and analysts can and should make better use of statistical, mathematical, and computational advances in their analysis of mark–recapture data. Modern, easily applied approaches address and minimize the effects of violations to the model assumptions on which abundance estimators are based. Using examples from research estimating the numbers of Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha escaping fisheries to spawn, this study demonstrates and provides evidence in support of the use of a robust and defensible approach to salmonid escapement estimation based on the analysis of individual encounter histories. The main attributes of the approach include (1) testing for demographic closure, (2) allowing different hypotheses about the demographic attributes and capture history of the studied population to be expressed within a model selection framework, encompassing suites of open- or closed-population approaches, and (3) optimizing the use of information by embracing the opportunities that mark–recapture experiments generate to increase our knowledge of salmonid ecology and hence improve both future study designs and management decisions. This study also demonstrates that discrepancies (positive) in abundance estimates produced with the Petersen estimator relative to those produced by the “best models” from robust estimators are inversely proportional to sampling rates. Received May 20, 2015; accepted October 22, 2015

ABSTRACT Environmental DNA (eDNA) is transforming the way aquatic ecosystems are monitored and managed by scientists, resource managers, ENGOs, First Nations communities, and citizen scientists alike. However, available sampling systems currently don't allow for combined high filtration volumes, rapid sample collection, and preservation in the field, thus far hindering broad scale eDNA studies in the ocean specifically for small and medium scale organizations. To overcome these challenges, several modular water sampling systems that utilize hollow‐membrane (HM) filtration cartridges were developed by RKS laboratories and tested by the Fisheries and Oceans, Canada, Molecular Genetics Laboratory. Compared to Sterivex filters, an industry standard for eDNA filtration, the HM filtration cartridges allowed for a six‐fold increase in filtration volume and threefold increase in filtration speed. The field sampling systems, which combine pumps, a programmable controller, an air pump, an ozone generator, and up to eight filters at once, enabled efficient direct eDNA filtration from diverse aquatic environments, from creeks to the open ocean. To evaluate ease of deployment, we present the results of a 3 day workshop where technical staff of an Indigenous resource management organization, without any prior knowledge in eDNA sampling, were trained and performed independent eDNA sample collection. The samples were analyzed by metabarcoding and qPCR to reveal the distributions of salmon and other species co‐occurring in salmon ecosystems, from large ephemeral predators, to the planktonic prey of salmon, even including their pathogens. In this example study, we further observed a substantial shift in community composition in the vicinity of aquaculture facilities where marine species associated with aquaculture feed were detected in freshwater at high relative abundance. This study demonstrates how these sampling systems provide an efficient entry point for small and medium scale organizations to utilize eDNA to fulfill their research and monitoring objectives.

Canada is the second largest landmass country in the world, but has one of the lowest population densities. As of 2011, approximately 19% of the Canadian population lives in rural, or remote communities. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in rural and urban access to the Internet and device use in Canada, and to explore differences in access to broadband between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities in Canada. In general rural-dwellers had lower levels of Internet access and despite efforts to increase access to high speed Internet, Aboriginal communities in some regions have limited access. Future research should explore computer and health literacy in the context of rural and remote communities in Canada.

Abstract The recovery of marine mammals from historical over-exploitation in the 1970s represents one of the largest changes in trophic structure in the northeast Pacific Ocean over the last century, for which the impacts on key forage species such as Pacific Herring (Clupea pallasii) are poorly understood. This has prompted hypotheses that increasing marine mammal populations are the primary cause for productivity declines for some fish stocks and their lack of recovery to historical abundance levels. In this study, we evaluate such a hypothesis for Pacific Herring by quantifying historical predation rates by key predators, including cetaceans (Pacific Humpbacks, Grey Whales), pinnipeds (Steller Sea Lions, Harbour Seals), and piscivorous fish (Pacific Hake). Predation mortality is quantified via a novel approach that integrates a single-species catch-at-age model with estimates of predator consumption derived from bioenergetic models. We found that predator consumption, largely driven by Humpback Whales, explained increasing Pacific Herring natural mortality rates in recent years and could be used to forecast future mortality. Incorporating higher future natural mortality rates produced higher estimates of current stock status (1.09–1.2$B_0$) based on lower estimates of equilibrium unfished biomass (17.5–20.3 kt). Conversely, models that assumed mortality was more like the historical average had lower stock status (0.63$B_0$) and higher estimates of unfished biomass (32.4 kt). We demonstrate a practical approach for ecosystem modelling that can be used to develop operating model scenarios for management strategy evaluation, improving scientific defensibility by removing an element of analyst choice for future mortality scenarios. We discuss how simpler modifications to single-species model assumptions can be more pragmatic for providing fisheries management advice, while more complex multi-species or ecosystem models might provide more nuanced insights for exploring research questions related to multi-species ecosystems and fisheries interactions.

The present study evaluated the performance of a full-scale gravity-driven membrane filtration system with passive hydraulic fouling control (PGDMF) for drinking water treatment in a small community over a 3-year period. The PGDMF system consistently met the design flow and regulated water quality/performance parameters (i.e., total coliform, Escherichia coli, turbidity, and membrane integrity). The instantaneous temperature-corrected permeability (TCP) varied seasonally, being greater during the winter months. The overall TCP decreased slowly to ∼60% of the initial value by the end of 3 years, a TCP that is much greater than would have been expected without passive hydraulic fouling control. Although it was not possible to directly link the observed seasonal changes in TCP to potential seasonal changes in the biofilm microbiome, the analysis did suggest that the lower TCP during summer months was due to a greater microorganism richness in the feed and presence of filamentous, stalked, and biofilm-forming bacteria in the biofilm. Operation with higher trans-membrane pressure (i.e., ∼30 vs ∼20 mbar) and more frequent passive hydraulic fouling control (i.e., every 12 vs 24 h) enabled a greater flow to be sustained. The study demonstrated the long-term robustness and performance of GDMF with passive hydraulic fouling control for drinking water treatment.

Participatory, gender-sensitive processes are hailed as valuable in ensuring community perspectives shape economic development planning: to assess community needs, aspirations and to identify indicators of development based on local perspectives. In Indigenous communities, such processes may not always be taken up due to research and consultation fatigue or plain scepticism. Women are often silent or less outspoken in public settings, and dominant perspectives tend to occupy most of the space and time allocated to participatory processes. This can lead to distorted understandings of community voices and inadvertently preserve the gendered status quo. A case study based on the community engagement approach taken in partnership with the government of the Toquaht Nation, on Vancouver Island endeavoured in a gender-sensitive consultation process to develop a value-based decision support system for economic development activities. The article details the use of the “Making Connections” method to facilitate discussions about economic development through Toquaht women’s circles. “Making Connections” is a tool to identify and build place-based, people-centred visions and indicators of economic development for community well-being. Based on James Tully’s work on actions for and of freedom, the article introduces this new method as a framework for cooperative community discussions in ways that allow for naming past and current histories of discrimination and disconnection, while honouring people’s strengths, resistance and resilience. The themes and concerns emerging from the women’s circles speak of a richer and more expansive notion of economic development that puts comprehensive well-being at the heart of economic development.

While fjords often have low oxygen concentrations in their deep waters, this research identified seasonal, near-surface hypoxia (≤ 2 mL L -1 or 2.9 mg L -1 ) through a year-long monthly time series in Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia. Temperature, salinity, and oxygen data were collected monthly in the upper 50 m at three stations in Herbert Inlet from June 2020 to July 2021, marking the first time series of its kind in a Clayoquot Sound fjord. Hypoxic conditions were shallowest (minimum depth of 12 m) and most intensified in summer; near-surface hypoxia was recorded at one or more stations in all months except in winter. Considering that many local marine species, including wild Pacific salmon, experience adverse effects at oxygen concentrations much higher than the hypoxic threshold, we note that 50 to 100% of the upper 50 m of Herbert Inlet consistently presented low oxygen concentrations (defined here as a guideline as ≤ 4.9 mL L -1 or 6.9 mg L -1 ) during the 14-month study period. Previous observations collected sporadically since May 1959 confirmed the presence of hypoxic conditions in the past. These findings suggest that long-term, multidisciplinary studies are needed to understand and predict the impact of hypoxia and deoxygenation on wild salmon stocks as climate changes.

Rural and remote Indigenous communities face unique challenges, and they must drive solutions for sustaining and maintaining distinct nursing practices. Resourcing Indigenous community needs and aspirations for health depends on sustainable funding and an appropriately resourced nursing workforce. An Indigenous community-engaged research team led a program of study exploring Indigenous systems of care with three distinct communities. We used Indigenous research methodologies to identify obstacles to care and ways to advance nursing and healthcare delivery according to unique values and demographical and geographical influences. Using a collaborative analysis approach with communities, we identified themes related to resourcing nursing positions, supporting nursing education and valuing nursing influence in determining program priorities. The voice of the community in research is a powerful force for advocacy, ensuring that nurses are supported in relationships with communities and in designing programs that fit the community's vision for health and wellness. We recognize the essential contributions of nurse leaders to policy processes in formulating and coordinating ideas for program redesign across and within levels of organizations for health and social justice impacts. We conclude our paper by noting implications for nursing leadership in diverse settings with the goal of sustaining a nursing workforce to provide culturally safe, wellness-focused care.

FisheriesEarly View Photo Diary Cameras, Computers, and Collaboration: Cutting Edge Approaches to Marine Fish Monitoring Colin Bates, Corresponding Author Colin Bates [email protected] Cascadia Seaweed Corp., Sidney, BC, Canada Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, CanadaSearch for more papers by this authorDeclan McIntosh, Declan McIntosh Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, CanadaSearch for more papers by this authorTalen Rimmer, Talen Rimmer orcid.org/0009-0007-5712-8194 Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, CanadaSearch for more papers by this authorDaniel Pedde, Daniel Pedde Cascadia Seaweed Corp., Sidney, BC, CanadaSearch for more papers by this authorJennifer Clark, Jennifer Clark Cascadia Seaweed Corp., Sidney, BC, CanadaSearch for more papers by this authorGemma Macfarlane, Gemma Macfarlane Maaqutusiis Hahoulthee Stewardship Society, Ahousaht Nation, Tofino, BC, CanadaSearch for more papers by this authorRyan Anaka, Ryan Anaka Uchucklesaht Tribe Government, Port Alberni, BC, CanadaSearch for more papers by this authorAlexandra Branzan Albu, Alexandra Branzan Albu Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, CanadaSearch for more papers by this authorFrancis Juanes, Francis Juanes orcid.org/0000-0001-7397-0014 Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, CanadaSearch for more papers by this author Colin Bates, Corresponding Author Colin Bates [email protected] Cascadia Seaweed Corp., Sidney, BC, Canada Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, CanadaSearch for more papers by this authorDeclan McIntosh, Declan McIntosh Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, CanadaSearch for more papers by this authorTalen Rimmer, Talen Rimmer orcid.org/0009-0007-5712-8194 Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, CanadaSearch for more papers by this authorDaniel Pedde, Daniel Pedde Cascadia Seaweed Corp., Sidney, BC, CanadaSearch for more papers by this authorJennifer Clark, Jennifer Clark Cascadia Seaweed Corp., Sidney, BC, CanadaSearch for more papers by this authorGemma Macfarlane, Gemma Macfarlane Maaqutusiis Hahoulthee Stewardship Society, Ahousaht Nation, Tofino, BC, CanadaSearch for more papers by this authorRyan Anaka, Ryan Anaka Uchucklesaht Tribe Government, Port Alberni, BC, CanadaSearch for more papers by this authorAlexandra Branzan Albu, Alexandra Branzan Albu Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, CanadaSearch for more papers by this authorFrancis Juanes, Francis Juanes orcid.org/0000-0001-7397-0014 Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, CanadaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 22 May 2024 https://doi.org/10.1002/fsh.11104Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat REFERENCE Mouy, X., M. Black, K. Cox, J. Qualley, C. Mireault, S. Dosso, and F. Juanes. 2020. FishCam: a low-cost open source autonomous camera for aquatic research. HardwareX [online serial] 8:e00110. 10.1016/j.ohx.2020.e00110 PubMedGoogle Scholar Early ViewOnline Version of Record before inclusion in an issue ReferencesRelatedInformation

Psychoeducational assessments often determine access to essential services, yet most tools used in Canadian contexts remain grounded in Western frameworks that do not reflect Indigenous worldviews. This brief report describes the development of an Indigenous Assessment Protocol co-created through an Indigenous-led, community-engaged processes. Used alongside standard tools, the protocol supports practitioners in contextualizing assessment results through a strengths-based, holistic understanding of child development. This practice-based contribution joins a growing number of responses across Canada that heed national calls for more culturally grounded and community-engaged approaches to assessment.

Culturally safe approaches to health care are fundamental to addressing Indigenous-specific racism and improving health care experiences and health outcomes for Indigenous peoples. However, historical and structural barriers in British Columbia, Canada mean that health care and services are not consistently or predictably provided in a culturally safe manner as people cross from Indigenous-led health services to mainstream health care providers who serve Indigenous communities. The Nuu-chah-nulth Patient Voices Project was a participatory research-to-action project which aimed to facilitate dialogue between health care providers and Nuu-chah-nulth community members about the impact of culturally unsafe care delivery on health outcomes. The Nuu-chah-nulth Voices project was conducted in partnership with the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, Tseshaht First Nation and Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation. The research team utilized a storywork and brokered dialogue methodology facilitated between members of the participating First Nations and mainstream health care providers serving Nuu-chah-nulth communities, including family practice and emergency department physicians and nurse practitioners. The findings demonstrate that cultural safety requires a multi-pronged approach – including education, changes in standard care practices, policy and procedure changes in patient advocates and complaint processes, increasing access to primary care in Indigenous communities, and instigating workplace culture change in hospitals and clinics. Importantly, these strategies will be most effective when they are rooted in the perspectives of Indigenous patients and developed in collaboration with health care providers, bridging the divide between care provider and patient experiences.

Abstract The recovery of marine mammals from historical over-exploitation in the 1970s represents one of the largest changes in trophic structure in the northeast Pacific Ocean over the last century, for which the impacts on key forage species such as Pacific Herring ( Clupea pallasii ) are poorly understood. This has prompted hypotheses that increasing marine mammal populations are the primary cause for productivity declines for some fish stocks and their lack of recovery to historical abundance levels. In this study, we evaluate such a hypothesis for Pacific Herring by quantifying historical predation rates by key predators including cetaceans (Pacific Humpbacks, Grey Whales), pinnipeds (Stellar Sea Lions, Harbour Seals), and piscivorous fish (Pacific Hake). Predation mortality is quantified via a novel approach that integrates a single-species catch-at-age model with estimates of predator consumption derived from bioenergetic models. We found that predator consumption, largely driven by Humpback Whales, explained increasing Pacific Herring natural mortality rates in recent years and could be used to forecast future mortality. Incorporating higher future natural mortality rates produced higher estimates of current stock status (1.09-1.2B0) based on lower estimates of equilibrium unfished biomass (17.5-20.3 kt). Conversely, models that assumed mortality was more like the historical average had lower stock status (0.63B0) and higher estimates of unfished biomass (32.4 kt). We demonstrate a practical approach for ecosystem modelling that can be used to develop operating model scenarios for management strategy evaluation, improving scientific defensibility by removing an element of analyst choice for future mortality scenarios. We discuss how simpler modifications to single-species model assumptions can be more pragmatic for providing fisheries management advice, while more complex multi-species or ecosystem models might provide more nuanced insights for exploring research questions related to multi-species ecosystems and fisheries interactions.

Observations of animal behaviour in the open ocean are relatively rare. However, while conducting surveys in the Northeast Pacific in the summers of 2019 and 2021, we encountered two Salmon Shark (Lamna ditropis) using floating anthropogenic debris to scratch their bodies. We captured the activity with aerial (drone) and underwater cameras. We document and describe this novel behaviour as high energy, high impact, repetitive, fast, and long lasting (e.g., every ~15 s for >20 minutes). We explore these observations in light of traditional ecological knowledge and scientific literature.