Andrea Reid’s studies on fisheries have seen her travel the globe, from Lake Victoria to the Solomon Islands. But it’s Reid’s latest project researching the link between fish and Indigenous culture, sees her journeying to remote places within Canada’s borders.
Reid, a third-year PhD student at Carleton and the University of British Columbia (UBC), has been travelling across British Columbia for three consecutive summers studying Pacific salmon migrations.
This summer, she travelled across British Columbia’s three most salmon-bearing rivers, the Fraser, Skeena and Nass Rivers, to interview and learn from Indigenous elders. Reid’s summer research with elders is being funded by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.
Reid was born and raised on Prince Edward Island, but her research in the Pacific Northwest has a personal family connection. Reid’s mother is Irish-Canadian, but her father is of Nisga’a heritage—an Indigenous people who mostly reside in the Nass River valley of Northwestern British Columbia.
“My grandmother hailed from the Nisga’a Village of Gingolx, but she was taken from the community into the residential school system, and later lost her children through the Sixties Scoop,” Reid said. “Because of this, my father was raised outside the Nisga’a community.”
“My PhD research gives me an opportunity to reconnect with this heritage, and to be helpful to my nation,” she added.
Throughout her PhD, she has worked closely with other educators, Indigenous communities and organizations such as the Nisga’a Fisheries and Wildlife Department. This department has assisted Reid with tasks such as recapturing radio-tagged Pacific salmon or encouraging fishers to report when they capture a radio-tagged fish.
She has also been researching threats towards Pacific salmon populations. Reid explained how threats such as warmer waters are making it more difficult for salmon to migrate, and may increase the likelihood of diseases proliferating in the fish. But her work with Indigenous elders this summer has given her new perspectives on Pacific salmon management.
“The conversations have been rich,” Reid said. “We have discussed the changes they have seen over their lifetimes, such as seeing major warming events take place.”
Currently, Reid is in the process of compiling results from her findings.In early February, Reid will be giving a presentation at the UBC Pacific Salmon Symposium.
The symposium aims to create conversations between Indigenous and scientific communities on issues relating to the conservation of Pacific salmon.
In the 2019 winter term, Reid will be teaching “TSES 4010: Indigenous Knowledge and the Environment” at Carleton. A fourth-year seminar, the interdisciplinary studies course will bring in various Indigenous scholars to speak on issues relating to the environment.
“Very few courses cover these topics,” she said. “Students will hopefully gain an understanding of the value and need for Indigenous science.”
Photo provided by Collin Middleton
