I am an assistant professor focusing on fisheries science, particularly recreational fisheries. I merge concepts from commercial fisheries with human dimensions and management science to help inform management decisions. Prior to joining the School of Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University, I worked for the British Columbia Ministry of Environment as a Senior Aquatic Scientist, where I worked with fisheries managers to approach an array of issues affecting fisheries and aquatic systems. These included managing fisheries as social-ecological systems, addressing invasive species, deciding between setting regulations and improving habitat to prevent overfishing, and addressing impacts to proposed and existing hydroelectric dams.

My research includes decision analysis and structured decision making to address management issues, development of novel techniques for monitoring fishing effort, and developing and applying social-ecological systems models to better understand interrelationships between management, fish and fishers.

Dr. Johnston explores interactions between water use through hydroelectric facilities and operations, and ecological and social values important to government, First Nations, and stakeholders. Her work follows many years of adaptive management experiments across nearly every BC Hydro facility in the province to determine how operations affect social and ecological outcomes. This is a long-term commitment and will yield important findings about the system as a whole, as well as help us understand how our use of natural resources impacts every aspect of the watershed.

I am a current MRM candidate in the thesis stream of the program. I am interested in studying fisheries management at the intersection of biology and policy, particularly how to regulate human use of fisheries to maximize both community benefits and biological sustainability. I have prior work with commercial fisheries in B.C. and pacific salmon. I am currently studying a recreational Bull Trout fishery at Meziadin Lake in Northern B.C where I am helping the local managers develop a sustainable management plan for the fishery.

I am a Masters of Resource Management (MRM) student; I recently graduated from Queen’s University with a BSc in Biology. Through my time in my NSERC USRA and undergraduate thesis, I developed a general interest in understanding the scope of human impacts on aquatic ecosystems and the health of their biota, as well as a passion for collaborative research. This led me to the REM program and Dr. Van Poorten’s fisheries management lab. Under joint supervision with Dr. Patterson, my research will likely focus on understanding the energetics of juvenile salmon species .

I am a Masters of Resource Management student in the lab. I have a Bachelor of Environmental Studies from the University of Waterloo, with a focus on Geography and Environmental Management. My research is focused on working with Indigenous communities to establish and evaluate fisheries reference points for the Northern Dolly Varden fisheries using Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK).

I am a Masters of Resource Management (project stream) student at Simon Fraser University. I joined the REM program with a working background in sustainability in agro-value chains and soil ecotoxicology. My current research project in partnership with Fisheries and Oceans, Canada seeks to develop alternative stock assessment models to inform decision making in the management of recreational spot prawn fishing in British Columbia (BC). This will be done by first accounting for the effect of recreational fishing on prawn stocks. We will also explore the possibilities of integrating recreational, commercial and survey data to assess the stock status of prawns in BC. Beyond my current project, I also have a very personal interest in pollution risk assessment of aquatic systems relative to mining effluent and industrial activities especially in developing countries.

My project aims to identify the utility of lakes in Jasper National Park. Various groups of people, such as tourists, recreational fishermen, and residents, may differ in their preferences for certain aspects of specific lakes. Through this project, I aim to understand these preferences and how, when combined, they create a social utility value for individual lakes. The goal of collecting this knowledge is to be able to take the total utility value of a given lake into consideration when evaluating conservation and management discussions.

Dylan will build on the work of Samuel, using his Spot Prawn model to evaluate different management strategies and help DFO understand trade-offs likely to be encountered across different recreational fisheries management decisions

Michael will work in the same system as Maya, employing the thresholds and objectives uncovered through discussions with community members, and applying them to age-structured management models. This work will be used to evaluate different harvest control rules, thereby helping communities rebuild their fisheries and make informed decisions about their annual fishing quotas for Dolly Varden

I am a current Masters of Resource Management student, and I hold a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology from the University of Victoria. My professional background is in aquaculture, fisheries management, and aquatic health research. Through my research project at SFU, I aim to work with Fisheries and Oceans Canada to investigate how environmental information is used in making management decisions for Fraser River sockeye. I am the final member of Sean Cox’s Quantitative Fisheries lab, but share common space with the Recreational Fisheries lab and participate in lab meetings and activities.

I am a PhD candidate in fisheries science, sharing time between the Fisheries Management Lab at SFU and the Department of Zoology at UBC. My work uses population, spatial, and genetics models to design and evaluate management and recovery plans for fish species-at-risk. Previously, I worked as a fisheries biologist for Parks Canada and the Government of Alberta, focusing on recovery of native trout species in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. This fueled my interest in exploring and developing quantitative methods to assess management decisions in species conservation.
When not immersed in my dissertation, I work as a research scientist, specializing in cumulative effects modelling for species recovery. Additionally, I offer consulting services to various government agencies on fish genetics. My passion lies in fostering connections between management and academia, actively participating in the co-development of strategies for the protection of aquatic ecosystems.

I am a Masters of Resource Management student and graduate of UBC with a BSc in Natural Resources Conservation. I am currently studying multiple lakes in the Thompson-Nicola region of BC, in partnership with Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC. My research aims to evaluate the effect of improved access, docks, to identify who benefits from increased access to fishing sites. Fishers choose fishing sites for various reasons, and I hope to determine the demographic make-up of anglers, allowing for management decisions that reduce barriers to new fishers.

Amanda is a Masters of Resource Management student and MITACS intern at BC Hydro. Her work will explore how watershed characteristics and dam configuration work to constrict the range of flow conditions experienced below hydroelectric dams. This is important as hydroelectric companies work to balance operations aimed at providing consistent electricity for the public against ecological and social impacts of dam operations on downstream habitats and communities. Understanding this restricted operating space helps to streamline discussions and negotiations with governments (including Indigenous nations) and stakeholders.

Lindsay (she/her) is a is a Masters of Resource Management student at Simon Fraser University with the Fisheries Management Lab and Ocean Equity Lab. She graduated from University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Environment in 2021 and worked in salmon fisheries management with Fisheries and Oceans Canada before attending SFU. Lindsay's research will focus on equity of Pacific salmon fisheries in British Columbia's central coast.

Post-doctoral fellow 2021-2022

Chris is now assistant professor and associate director at the Michigan State Quantitative Fisheries Center. We continue to work closely with Chris.

Masters of Resource Management 2024

Phil now works for Fisheries and Oceans Canada

We are now co-authoring a paper evaluasing the Strait of Georgia Creel Program, and another on release mortality between rainbow trout strains.

Masters of Resource Management 2024

Kelcy now works for Ecofish Consulting

We are now co-authoring a paper on fisheries objectives

Masters of Resource Management 2024

Mikayla now works for EDI consulting

We are writing a paper evaluating the efficacy of egg mats as a means of determining spawning locations for wide sturgeon.

Master of Resource Management 2023

Hanna now works for Fisheries and Oceans Canada

We are now co-authoring a paper on fisheries objectives.

PhD 2021

Rachel now works for EcoFish Research as a Fisheries Biologist.

We are creating a decision analysis to help managers decide how to set fishing regulations for a riverine bull trout fishery to balance angler and ecological objectives.

PhD 2021

Patricia now works with the BC Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship as a Aquatic Habitat Biologist