Jared Connoy

Doctor of Philosophy in Science in Oceans and Fisheries | he/him/his

Hello! My name is Jared Connoy, and I am a settler of Irish and German descent. I grew up in Toronto, on the traditional territories of the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, the Mississaugas of the Credit, and the Wendat peoples. As a child, I spent much time in and on the lakes and rivers of what is now known as Southern Ontario, inspiring my love for aquatic ecosystems, their inhabitants, and the human communities that they shape and are shaped by. As an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, I translated this passion into studying freshwater turtles in the Rollinson Lab in Algonquin Park, on the unceded land of the Algonquin peoples.

I completed my Master's in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Calgary, receiving the Governor General’s Gold Medal. In my thesis, I studied how Chinook salmon influence northern ecosystems through Western science and Indigenous Teslin Tlingit Knowledge, in collaboration with the Teslin Tlingit Council, whose traditional territory lies in what we now know as Southern Yukon and Northern British Columbia. I am ecstatic to be continuing work on salmon through my PhD with the CIF, studying salmon fishing, ecology, management, and conservation, in a changing world with the Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance (a voice for the First Nations of the Lower Fraser River) and a number of Lower Fraser First Nations.

My PhD dissertation, entitled ‘Colonization and Pacific Salmon: A Social-Ecological Account from the Lower Fraser River’, encompasses four research chapters, examining different aspects of how colonialism has shaped Pacific salmon social-ecological systems, drawing on diverse methods such as reviews, archival research, telemetry, theoretical modelling, and more. For Indigenous Peoples of the North Pacific, including dozens of Coast Salish Nations on the Lower Fraser River, Pacific salmon are foundations of communities and culture. These communities sustainably managed large-scale salmon fisheries for millennia before European colonization disrupted them. My dissertation examines how that disruption happened, what it looks like today, and what could be done differently. Specifically, it documents how the Canadian state has used arguments of conservation to limit Indigenous fisheries while expanding commercial and recreational fisheries; the survival of migrating adult salmon in a river system highly modified by colonization; potential ecological benefits of the First Nations fishing practice of night fishing; and how Lower Fraser First Nations fisheries have changed over the last two decades. Overall, these studies highlight the injustices that exist within colonial fisheries management and uplift mechanisms, like Canada’s UNDA Act (2021) and the Karasjok Declaration, for addressing them.

Through my research, I enjoy creating open access tools, like this scrolly telling map about my project ‘Conserving Colonial Order: A Review of Pacific Salmon Management and Conservation in Canada’ (publication in review), or this shiny app, which can be used to estimate the risk of post-release mortality of Pacific salmon, part of my project measuring the ecological benefits of fishing at night (publication in review). Outside of my research, I enjoy being active in grassroots environmental and social organizing. I am passionate about advocating for an intersectional climate movement, centering issues of Indigenous sovereignty, labor, and more, and I am a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community.

Email: j.connoy@oceans.ubc.ca