Call
Cycle II, Early Career Faculty
The last decade has seen the rapid development of British Columbia’s north coast and the advent of socio-economic challenges and risks resulting from increased pressures on the area’s communities and natural systems. One of BC’s largest economic drivers, the Port of Prince Rupert sits on the outskirts of the Skeena River estuary, an economically viable salmon habitat that has sustained commercial and Indigenous fisheries for decades to centuries. In light of controversies concerning development proposals, it has become clear how little is known about the physical processes governing the Skeena Estuary. This research sets out to: (1) examine the spatio -temporal variability in hydro- and sediment dynamics of the Skeena Estuary through observation and (2) test the vulnerability of its salmon-supporting shallow-water ecosystems on estuarine shoals to climatic-induced or anthropogenic changes via modelling.
