Hannah is a quantitative ecologist broadly interested in how quantitative tools can be re-envisioned and applied in ways that support ecologically sustainable and socially just conservation actions. For her NSERC postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Anne Salomon and Dr. Kyle Wilson, she is working under the guidance of the Kitasoo Xai'xais Stewardship Authority (KXSA) on building pathways for meaningful co-management of fisheries in Canada. Hannah will be contributing to a collaborative working group - with members from the KXSA, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and Oceana Canada - that aims to re-envision how Pacific herring are managed in Kitasoo Xai'xais territory. She will be conducting interviews and focus groups with Kitasoo Xai'xais knowledge holders and stewardship staff to develop performance objectives for the spawn-on-kelp fishery that align with ecosystem states desired by the Nation. She will also be combining these new interviews with archival data and field observations to build a Bayesian Belief Network of the herring ecosystem.

Hannah lives on the unceded territories of the səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations.

Hannah Watkins