Written by Teghan Acres

COVID-19 has brought unprecedented change to every area of society. At SFU, for better or for worse, the way we teach, learn and study has shifted. Anne Salomon is no stranger to these changes as an applied marine ecologist and associate professor in the School of Resource and Environment Management. She also directs SFU’s Coastal Marine Ecology and Conservation Lab. However, Salomon has not only been forced to pivot in her position as a professor and researcher, but also as a mother to two young boys. She isn’t shy to admit that balancing all of her responsibilities has been stressful and challenging. But along with the hardships have come unexpected opportunities for collaboration, connection and learning.

Salomon is the co-lead of a research project looking at kelp forests in partnership with four Central Coast First Nations - Heiltsuk, Kitasoo/Xai’xais, Nuxalk and Wuikinuxv. Her team was meant to travel to Bella Bella this summer to conduct field research but had to cancel when travel restrictions were enacted due to the pandemic. However, the research is still going ahead with a citizen science approach led by the partner nations. Salomon and her team will provide virtual training to teach the First Nation’s Coastal Guardian Watchmen how to collect field data and follow monitoring protocols. Salomon describes it as a “remarkable example of coming together under stressful times and coming up with positive solutions for people that care so much about these resources.” In conjunction with this project, she is involved with 4 other collaborative research endeavours that work to support the resilience of our oceans in an era of climate change and reconciliation.

Her current project is not her only experience collaborating on research with First Nations communities. Coastal Voices is another noteworthy project that brought together a diverse group of Indigenous leaders, knowledge holders, scientists and artists from British Columbia and Alaska to discuss and plan for the profound changes triggered by the return of sea otters. Sea otters populations were reduced significantly from the 18th and 19th century maritime fur trade. This generated profound changes in coastal ecosystems, food systems, and cultural traditions. Sea otters are now recovering which comes at the expense of reduced sea urchin, crab, clam, cockle and endangered abalone populations, all of which are important and ancient sources of food, cultural traditions and livelihoods.

Hereditary chiefs from the Haida, Heiltsuk, Sugpiaq, and Nuu-chah-nuulth Nations led the project as the Steering Committee. Workshop focus groups and community surveys were conducted with Hereditary Chiefs, knowledge holders and Indigenous resource managers, representing 19 coastal First Nations and Tribes, along with natural and social scientists, artists, journalists and videographers. Their findings revealed four key strategies that are perceived as critical to facilitate the coexistence of people and sea otters:

1. Strengthen Indigenous governance authority, 

2. Establish adaptive co-management, 

3. Gather & incorporate Indigenous knowledge, and
   

4. Building learning platforms. 

These strategies highlight the need for more Indigenous authority, knowledge, and leadership in addressing the challenges that accompany predator-recovery in complex systems where people and nature are tightly linked.

In addition to her career as an academic, Salomon has taken on a new profession - kindergarten teacher. She and her husband, who is also a SFU faculty member, have had to tackle sharing their regular and new teaching duties. Her words are that, “we have to learn how to be co-professors and how to be colleagues in kindergarten.” She reflects that teaching her five-year-old son and watching him progress has been the best part of working from home with her family. Even though he has interrupted a number of important conference calls for her, it has provided a reminder of our common humanity that we don’t often get to experience in the workplace and especially in academia.

Preliminary research has already recognized the unbalanced burden placed on female scientists during quarantine. This can include a sudden increase in responsibilities for family care, teaching, supervision and administration. Salomon is included in this category as now needing to balance childcare during the workday along with her regular academic responsibilities. She notes that in the first few weeks of working from home, she was asked to review more papers than in the previous months because there seemed to be the assumption that she would have more times for tasks like this, and not the opposite.

Despite the challenges that the pandemic has caused, Salomon recognizes the chance it provides for imagining a better future. She states that, “this is the time to really think about not going back to business as usual. We can use this opportunity to press the reset button and ask what’s important to make the world a better and different place.” That world includes support and equal opportunities for everyone across our society, and not to mention, healthy oceans.

Learn more about Salomon’s work by viewing summaries of recent papers and visiting the Coastal Marine Ecology and Conservation Lab. Follow along with the PWRC on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram to learn more and stay up to date with our activities. 

We respectfully acknowledge that the PWRC operates on the unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.