Our lab works at the intersection of public and private policies related to fish and seafood production and consumption in order to contribute to more equitable seafood governance regimes. We are motivated by notions of equity and fairness, and believe that the way humans use the ocean, and the resources within, should be governed in ways that ensure both ecological resilience and social wellbeing.

Within Canadian waters, our work focuses on fisheries and ecosystems in the North Atlantic, Nunavut, Nunatsiavut, and coastal British Columbia. Globally, we also research fisheries and seafood supply chains in the Indian Ocean, Indonesia, and the Western and Central Pacific Ocean. We work with both small-scale fisheries that land only a couple tonnes per year as well as the largest fisheries in the world.

We are economists, marine biologists, and social scientists who get out of bed every morning to conduct sound, meaningful, and applied interdisciplinary science in pursuit of sustainable and prosperous ecosystems, fisheries, and societies.

Megan Bailey

I grew up in London Ontario, completing my Bachelors in Zoology at Western University in 2003. I have always been interested in the natural world, and fancied myself destined to be a vet, primatologist or marine biologist.

With that mission in mind, I spent a year in Suriname working on a capuchin monkey field study in a remote location on the Coppename River. Armed with idealism and a pair of binoculars, I thought I’d save the rainforest. What struck me after only a couple of weeks in the field was the coupled nature of social and ecological systems. Saving the rainforests because of ideology can also mean destroying local livelihoods and cultures. To have the largest conservation impact, I realized that I needed to expand my studies to include social and economic systems.

In 2005 I attended the Fisheries Centre at UBC to pursue graduate school under the supervision of Dr. Rashid Sumaila in the Fisheries Economics Research Unit. I completed my Masters in 2007 and my Doctorate in 2012. My PhD focused on solutions to global tuna governance through the lens of game theory and economics.

In July of 2015, I wrapped up a three year Postdoc with the Environmental Policy Group at Wageningen University in the Netherlands where I helped to lead the BESTTuna and IFITT projects (www.besttuna.org; www.ifittuna.info). With my studies spanning zoology, fisheries economics and environmental policy, I have a unique perspective on the issues facing marine resource use, as well as a unique vision for how solutions to these issues can be developed.

I am always looking for opportunities to supervise students and collaborate with partners and colleagues. I can be reached at:

Megan Bailey, Associate Professor, Marine Affairs Program
Canada Research Chair Integrated Ocean and Coastal Governance
Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus PI
Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford St, Life Sciences Centre 801
Halifax, NS, B3H 1R2 Canada

Phone: +1 (902) 494-6906
Email: Megan.Bailey@Dal.ca

Current

Postdocs

Carie Hoover (2018-2021): Allocation of commercial fishing opportunities in Nunavut (Location: Nunavut, Nunavut Wildlife Management Board (NWMB) funded) and ArcticNet ArcticFISH project.

Hekia Bodwitch (2020-2022): Sustainable Nunatsiavut Futures (Location: Nunatsiavut Labrador, Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI) funded.

 

Tu Nguyen (2020-2022): Location: Canada and global, Nippon Ocean Nexus Program funded)

 

Doctoral Students

Laurenne Schiller (2016-2020): States, markets, and sustainability: Understanding the relationship between public governance and private eco-certification programs in transboundary fisheries (Location: Global, Sobey Fund for Oceans funded)

 

Hussain Sinan (2017-2021): Towards equity in regional tuna allocations: Incorporating socio-economic dependency for the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (Location: Indian Ocean, International Pole and Line Foundation funded)

 

Rachael Cadman (2019-2023): Visioning the future of Nunatsiavut’s fisheries (Location: Nunatsiavut, Labrador, Ocean Frontier Institute funded)

 

 

Kayla Hamelin (2019-2023): Novel approaches to strengthening assessments of information-poor fisheries and conservation-dependent species (Location: Canada, OFI and NSERC funded)

Masters students

Victoria Cullen: Investigating perceptions of stakeholder engagement in inshore fisheries management: Lessons learned from  North Atlantic right whale Unusual Mortality Event, 2017-2021. Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Program. Supervised by Wilf Swartz

 

 

Kaitlyn Curran:  Inclusive Marine Spatial Planning: Exploring the health benefits and barriers of accessing coastal spaces (Location: Halifax, NS Canada)

 

Martin Ostrega:Evaluating Pragmatic Strategies for Conserving Bonefish in Cuba: A Focus on Spawning Aggregation Management (Location: Cuba, Sobey Fund for Oceans funded). Co-supervised by Megan Bailey.

 

 

Former students

Bachelor Thesis Students

Kathleen Short: Community supported fisheries (CSF) creation and benefits for Atlantic fish harvesters (International Development Studies)

 

Masters Students

Class of 2020

Camille Mancion: Exploring traceability in small-scale fisheries: From harvest to landing. Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Program. Co-supervised with Wilf Swartz.

 

Class of 2019

Holly Amos: Exploring the alignment of human health and environmental health in fish and seafood recommendations (Master of Marine Management, Location: Canada, Sobey Fund for Oceans funded)

Justin Schaible: Assessing the certifiability for MSC certification of Nunatsiavut’s commercial fisheries (Master of Marine Management, Location: Labrador, OFI funded)

Sara Vanderkaden: The role of eco-certifications and traceability in supporting the Inuit seal harvest to deliver Inuit rights to food, culture, and economic opportunities (Master of Marine Management, Location: Nunavut, Mitacs and Nexus Coastal funded)

Class of 2018

Emma Carmichael: Improving international fisheries management by prioritizing social and geo-political issues: A case study on Atlantic shortfin mako management (Master of Marine Management, location Atlantic Ocean)

Seth Jenks: Restoring Atlantic salmon in Nova Scotian rivers (Master of Marine Management, location Nova Scotia)

Scott McIlveen: Addressing the Canadian shark-fin trade at a local level (Master of Marine Management, location Canada)

Class of 2017

Becca Aucoin: Direct marketing of Cape Breton lobster and its impact on the triple bottom line of fishery performance (Master of Marine Management, location Cape Breton)

Jessica Bradford: Underwater community gardens? Exploring community-based marine aquaculture as a coastal resource management strategy in Nova Scotia, Canada (Master of Marine Management, location Nova Scotia)

Christina Callegari: Exploring consumer-facing traceability as a risk mitigation strategy for seafood producers in Nova Scotia (Master of Marine Management, location Nova Scotia)

Emilie Normand: Quantifying external benefits associated with the production of Fair Trade Certified seafood: Underprovided and undervalued (Master of Marine Management, location global)

Class of 2016

Meghan Borland: How does the environmental stewardship aspect of the Fair Trade Capture Fisheries Standard align with the Marine Stewardship Council certification standard? (Master of Marine Management, IFITT student, location: Indonesia)

Catherine Schram: Spatial protection for Porbeagle sharks in the Northwest Atlantic – the road to recovery? (Master of Marine Management, NSERC CHONe2, location: Canada)

Laurie Starr: The IUU toolbox: how breaking up the components of IUU fishing can contribute to their effective management (Master of Marine Management, location: Indonesia)

Jenny Weitzman: Transparency in Canadian aquaculture practices (Master of Marine Management, NSERC MSc Scholarship, location: Canada)

Peter Wessels: How can incorporation of the roles of women in small-scale fisheries in the global South in institutional structures and processes strengthen community access to livelihood assets? (Master of Marine Management, location: Maldives, WAITT Foundation funded)

Former PhDs

Helen Packer (2016-2020): Cooperation in tuna fisheries management: Investigating the potential of value chain and informational governance to incentivize the cooperative use of tuna stocks (Location: Global, TOSST Funded)

Former PDFs

Melina Kourantidou (2019-2020): Ecosystem indicators for a changing ocean (Location: Nunatsiavut Labrador, Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI) funded)