I began Birdsmith Ecological Consulting in 1995 and collaborate with scientists, communities, marine stakeholders, governments and Indigenous people to bring the best information to ocean management in Canada and globally.
I entered the world of national marine policy in the late 1990s with the first project in Canada’s Pacific studying seabird bycatch in Canada’s west coast commercial fisheries (longline, gill net). Research and outreach with federal government and fisheries partners led to writing a new Fisheries and Oceans Canada regulation to reduce seabird bycatch in the west coast longline fishery. The mortality of alcids in the west coast Vancouver Island gill net fishery led to experimental research on net configurations and voluntary measures. I drafted Canada’s National Plan of Action – Seabirds to reduce seabird bycatch and comply with Canada’s signature on the United Nations FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. My participation in marine policy and management broader in 2008 to include marine protected areas (MPAs), marine spatial planning (MSP), and ecosystem-based management.
My professional life has also included more than a dozen research projects in terrestrial ecosystems – rare and endemic plants, ethnobotany with First Nations, insect life history, and plant regeneration on the Mount St Helen’s!
I have held leadership positions since 1987 at The Nature Conservancy, University of Washington, University of Victoria, Laskeek Bay Conservation Society, and Canadian Yachting Association. I was the Science Coordinator and Director for marine spatial planning in BC from 2011-2014 for the Marine Planning Partnership for the North Pacific Coast (MaPP).
- Ph.D. from the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington
- M.Sc. in Biology (Entomology) from the University of Victoria
- B.Sc. in Biology and Environmental Studies from the University of Victoria.
- Science Advisory Board for the SeaDoc Society and Laskeek Bay Conservation Society.
- Registered Professional Biologist with the College of Applied Biology (No. 942).
Please contact for any consulting opportunities.
Conservation resume:
- Documented the impacts of a hydrogen fluoride plume from the Kitimat Alcan smelter on a northern forest ecosystem.
- Developed Canada’s National Plan of Action for Seabirds (NPOA-Seabirds) to avoid and minimise the incidental catch of seabirds in longline fisheries in Canada.
- Studied the foraging behaviour of Common Mergansers on the Columbia River to reduce the cull of piscivorous birds consuming out-migrating salmon smolts.
