People

Faculty

Dr. Ussif Rashid Sumaila Director and Professor
Rashid Sumaila is a Professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Interdisciplinary Ocean and Fisheries Economics at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia. His research focuses on bioeconomics, marine ecosystem valuation and the analysis of global issues such as fisheries subsidies, marine protected areas, illegal fishing, climate change, marine plastic pollution, and oil spills.

Associated Faculty & Researchers

Dr. Colin Clark Emeritus Professor
Dr. Gordon Munro Emeritus Professor
Dr. Dirk Zeller Senior Research Associate

Researchers

Louise Teh Research Associate

Socio-economics of human-environment interactions, small-scale fisheries and livelihoods

Research Questions:

  • How can marine ecosystems support current and future social-economic and biodiversity benefits?
  • What are the trade-offs arising from climate and societal change at global and local scales?
  • How can we engage coastal communities in identifying pathways towards sustainable livelihoods?
 
Anna Schuhbauer (website) Research Associate

Socio-economics and human wellbeing; Small-scale fisheries and subsides; locally and  globally

Research Questions:

  • How can marginalized small-scale fisheries be better integrated in governmental decision-making processes?
  • How to design fisheries policies and marine spatial planning that include all aspects of human well-being?
  • What role do fisheries subsidies play when trying to achieve sustainable, viable and equitable fisheries?
 
Ilyass Dahmouni Postdoctoral Fellow

Climate change issues and their impacts on the ocean and resource sustainability.

Research interests: application of dynamic game theory to environmental and natural resource management and economics, pollution control, international environmental agreements, fisheries sustainability, public economics.

 
Ibrahim Issifu (2) Research Associate

Marine plastic pollution, fisheries & economics

Research Questions:

  • How can we quantify the diverse impacts of plastic pollution on ecosystems, human health, and local economies?
  • What challenges exist in quantifying the social costs of plastic pollution?
  • How can we accurately estimate the dollar value of avoided emissions?
 
Daomin Peng Postdoctoral Fellow

Social-ecological system, Species distribution models, Aquaculture & fisheries

Research Questions:

  • What factors determine the vulnerability and resilience of marine social-ecological systems?
  • How can the level of marine ecological security and sustainability be modeled under different development pathways and climate scenarios?
  • What incentives can promote the development of marine social-ecological systems in a more sustainable direction?
 
Lubna Alam Research Associate

Research Interest(s):

  • Pollution, fish contamination and consumption safety
  • Climate change impacts and vulnerability in fisheries sector
  • Deep-sea mining

Ongoing Research Projects

  • The net cost of deep seabed mining.
  • Overexploitation and climate-induced vulnerability of fisheries in the Coral Triangle of Asian countries: linking fisheries sustainability to food security.
 
Md Azizul Bari Research Assistant (Database Support)
Research Interest(s): Fisheries subsidies, fisheries economics and ocean sustainability, climate vulnerability, socio-economic vulnerability analysis of fisheries, climate change adaptation and mitigation, low carbon & disaster-resilient cities, scenario development and analysis.

Current Students

Hongsik Kim PHd Student

Ocean deoxygenation and warming, marine ecosystem changes, fisheries economics

Research Questions:

  • What are the challenges and opportunities in conducting interdisciplinary research that integrates oceanography and economics?
  • How can we quantify the impacts of ocean deoxygenation on fish populations and fisheries?
  • How can we model the combined impacts of ocean deoxygenation and warming on marine ecosystem services?
 
Ayodele Oloko PHd Student

Gender, small-scale fisheries and livelihoods, Climate change adaptations, IUU Fishing and Fisheries economics.

Research Questions:

  • What are the vulnerabilities to climate change for different genders in small-scale fishing communities?
  • Are there clear manifestations and evidence-based effects of these climate change stressors on gendered livelihood sustainability?
  •  How would addressing climate change stressors enhance resilience and reduce vulnerabilities to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing for different genders in small-scale fishing communities?
 
Annie Mejaes PHd Student

Exploring the potential of blue carbon from different perspectives

Research Questions:

  • Why is blue carbon important? What are the co-benefits of different blue carbon ecosystems?
  • How much is blue carbon worth today and in the future?
  • How can we implement blue carbon projects equitably?
  • How can we finance blue carbon?
 
Jade Owen PHd Student
Jade is pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy in Oceans and Fisheries at The University of British Columbia, with an expected completion date in April 2025. Additionally, she serves as the Manager of Research Design and Policy Development at Nunavut Arctic College.
 
Lauren Shea PhD Student

Marine resource management, resource access, fisheries end use

Research Questions:

  • What is the spatial distribution of the fishmeal and fish oil industry?
  • How will this industry be impacted by climate change?
  • Where is fishmeal production competing with food security?
 
Ema Fatima PhD Student

Fisheries Subsidies and Implications on marginalized communities

Research Questions:

  • What are the current evidence of social implications of fisheries subsidies?
  • Examining how fisheries subsidies affect women’s participation in marine fishing industry?
  • Investigating the role of fisheries subsidies in changing the  dynamics of women’s participation in India’s marine fishing industry?
 

Staff

 
Duncan Burnside Web/Data Manager; OceanCanada Partnership, FERU, Solving-FCB, CoastMan, CORU
 

Past Researchers

Dr. Juan José Alava Post-Doctoral Researcher
Dr. Jackie Alder Senior Research Associate
Ngaio Hotte Resource Economist
Dana Miller Post-Doctoral Researcher
Dr. Henrik Österblom Visiting Post Doctoral Student
Dr. Reg Watson Senior Research Scientist

Past Students

Megan Bailey PhD Student; currently teaches in Marine Affairs Program at Dalhousie University
Nathan Bendriem PhD Student
Nathan Bennett PhD Student
Tim Cashion PhD Student
André Cisneros-Montemayor MSc Student; PhD Student; currently Post-Doctoral Researcher at UBC Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries
Darah Gibson MSc Student
Andrea Haas MSc Student
Nigel Haggan PhD Student
Roseti Imo PhD Student
Gaku Ishimura PhD Student; currently Assistant Professor at the University of Hokkaido
Heather Keith MSc Student
Ahmed Khan MSc Student
Vicky Lam PhD Student
Yajie Liu PhD Student
Dale Marsden PhD Student
Liesbeth van der Meer MSc Student
Robert Parker PhD Student
Benjamin Starkhouse MSc Student
Wilf Swartz PhD Student
Louise Teh PhD Student; currently Research Associate at the UBC Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries
Sarah Harper PhD Student
Allison Cutting MSc Student
Rebecca Singleton PhD Student
Travis Tai PhD Student
Raul Villanueva PhD Student
Allison Witter PhD Student
Daniel Peñalosa PhD Student
Isaac Jonas MsC Student
Jin Xue PhD Student
Nicolas Talloni-Alvarez PhD Student
Stephen Foucault MSc Student
Vicky Lam Postdoctoral Fellow, Research Associate
Daniel Skerritt Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Tim Clark PhD Student
Iria Garcia Lorenzo PhD Student

Past Visitors

Patrizia Abdallah Federal University of Rio Grande, Brazil
Berchie Asiedu Visiting PhD Student
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia Visiting Scholar (Bank of Ghana)
Dr. Matt Berman Professor, University of Alaska
Marcos Dominguez-Torreiro Universidade de Vigo, Spain
Jannike Falk-Petersen PhD Student, University of Tromsø
Dr. Ling Huang Post-Doctoral Researcher; currently Assistant Professor at the University of Connecticut
Ruth Pincinato Visiting Student (Universidade de São Paulo)
Anne Reijbroek Visiting Master’s Student (University of Wageningen, Netherlands)
Yutaro Sakai Visiting Doctoral Student (University of Calgary, Canada)
Max Stoeven Visiting PhD Student
Fawzia Muhammed Zuka Visiting Research Student