Building Collaborative Interdisciplinary Research Infrastructure in Atlantic Canada’s Lobster Fisheries

Dr. Paul Foley

International research has identified social and economic factors as crucial in developing scientific understandings about the relationship between humans and the environment in contexts where the distribution of fish changes due to climate and ocean changes. FOCI’s Work Package on ‘Building Collaborative Interdisciplinary Research Infrastructure in Atlantic Canada’s Lobster Fisheries’, led by Dr. Paul Foley, uses the co-construction research model initiated in the Canadian Fisheries Research Network to develop and test social science methodologies to build capacity for industry-led collaborative research infrastructure in Atlantic Canadian lobster fisheries. This work will gather and integrate new biological data on lobster with new data on social and economic performance of the fishery into a full spectrum sustainability framework that can be used to inform adaptive decision-making in support of harvester, coastal community, and regional resilience in the face of rapid climate and ecosystem change.

Marcus Gosse presents My Spiritual Journey: Haida Gwaii to the Rock

by Cameron Forbes

Image Credit: Crow Gulch Mural by Marcus Gosse and Jordan Bennett

Artists' perspectives can help us to better understand our local communities and environment. Supported by FOCI, Grenfell Campus Visual Arts Professor Cameron Forbes is partnering with Qalipu First Nation to present a series of public artist talks and workshops which celebrate and share local Indigenous art practices.

We held our first event on October 21, led by Newfoundland Mi’kmaw Artist Marcus Gosse and attended by community members, Grenfell students, and faculty. Gosse’s talk was titled My Spiritual Journey: Haida Gwaii to the Rock. Through many images and stories, he shared how he developed as an artist; honouring his teachers and describing how he includes the ancient Mi’kmaq Star, Mi’kmaq Petroglyphs, Hieroglyphs, and various double curve designs into the landscapes of his paintings. Since 2014, The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery in Newfoundland has acquired four of Gosse’s paintings.

Marcus Gosse recently partnered with artist Jordan Bennett to create a public mural in Corner Brook paying homage to the Mi’kmaq community of Crow Gulch. The work honours the residents of the community who were displaced when it was razed in 1969, and celebrates the Mi’kmaq culture that is alive today. Marcus talked about the importance of creating more exterior Indigenous art pieces in Newfoundland to better recognize the histories and current communities of this place.

Bonne Bay Cottage Hospital Heritage Foundation

The Bonne Bay Cottage Hospital Heritage Corporation (BBCHHC) is a not-for-profit community corporation in Norris Point, NL that is actively working to repurpose the local old cottage hospital into a social enterprise incubator. The Old Cottage Hospital currently hosts numerous resources and services to serve the community of Norris Point, including a hostel, rental space for other local businesses, a public library, a radio station, a community kitchen, and a museum. This model of social enterprise allows BBCHHC to preserve the heritage and history of the cottage hospital while promoting community wellbeing and economic development. As a FOCI partner, the BBCHHC is co-creating knowledge with researchers and other community partners about the role of social enterprise in rural community development, while offering lessons to other communities looking to revitalize and preserve local culture and heritage.

Bright Future: Researcher Spotlight

Meet Julia Fracassi

Julia Fracassi is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Environmental Policy at Memorial University. Hailing from Toronto, she completed her undergraduate degree in Communications, as well as Environment and Urban Sustainability at Ryerson University. While volunteering for marine conservation NGOs abroad, she was profoundly moved by how combining community input and science-based evidence could influence local laws and the creation of marine protected areas. Her current work at Memorial University combines community-engaged research and knowledge mobilization to take a look at how climate change affects coastal communities who rely on sea ice as infrastructure. Despite living in a landlocked city her whole life, her experiences as a scuba diver have fuelled her passion for marine conservation and policy. When she’s not underwater looking at coral, Julia loves camping, snowboarding, and exploring all the amazing, diverse natural environments Canada has to offer.

Propelling the Blue Economy

Connecting Our Oceans, Our People, Our Future

Nov. 23-25, 2021

Memorial University’s Fisheries and Marine Institute is hosting a 3-day Virtual Symposium on November 23-25, 2021 for scientists, researchers, government representatives, industry stakeholders, NGOs, and Indigenous and coastal communities to exchange and share their experiences and ideas on all aspects of The Ocean Decade.

This event will provide an interdisciplinary platform for researchers, practitioners, and educators to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, and solutions to assist in the development of a common framework that will contribute to the development of a sustainable blue economy for Canada and the world.

Social Sciences and Humanities Working Group: People and The Ocean Speaker Series

Next webinar: Dec. 8, 2021

OFI's Social Sciences and Humanities Working Group is hosting a series of eight "people and the ocean"-focused webinars. Each webinar will feature a presentation by a marine and coastal SSH expert reflecting on key issues in their field, supplemented by short presentations by two discussants and an open question and answer period involving registrants.

The series as a whole seeks to inform governance and provide an introduction to SSH-led — but increasingly inter- and trans-disciplinary — efforts to understand complex interactions between society, economy, culture, and marine and coastal environments.

Scotia-Canadian Ocean Research Exchanges (SCORE)

Short-term study grants for visits to Scotland for PhD students and Early Career Researchers of the Ocean Frontier Institute

Apply by July 2022

The Ocean Frontier Institute invites the submission of applications from current PhD students or Early Career Researchers at one of the OFI universities, for grants for short-term study visits to one of the constituent organizations of the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland (MASTS).

The purpose of these grants is to promote collaboration between marine researchers in Canada and Scotland with a view to developing durable research links and promoting marine research in areas of mutual interest. There is no restriction on the subject area (within the broad scope of marine research). The application form can be found here.

About FOCI

The Future Ocean and Coastal Infrastructures (FOCI) program is facilitating innovative transdisciplinary research and outreach focused on the creative co-design of infrastructures to prepare for change and build safe, sustainable and inclusive communities in Atlantic Canada.