Over the border

I have returned from Canada after spending the last week in Vancouver.  I decided to travel up the west coast by train so I could take in the coastline and what a lovely journey it was.  After four hours I reached Vancouver and was greeted by Canadian border control.  Funnily enough, I was questioned more when entering Canada than when I arrived in the States.  I decided to walk to my hotel, more of a bimble with my bags, so that I could take in the sights of Vancouver along the way.  Thankfully at this point it wasn't raining but it did rain for remainder of the week. Despite being a third of the size, Vancouver feels very much like Seattle.  Vancouver is a beautiful city with a laid-back feel and lots of green space.  Going back to the coffee theme, interestingly Vancouver has more Starbucks than Seattle and Vancouver holds the accolade for highest consumption of coffee per capita in Canada.

Downtown Vancouver from Stanley Park

Upon arriving to my hotel in Downtown Vancouver I listened to the news.  I was hoping that I could escape election fever, but sadly I was disappointed.  Although news of hurricane Sandy and a earthquake off the coast of British Columbia did water down presidential battle updates.  I was a safe 720km away from the earthquake, which hit Queen Charlotte Islands, and measured 7.7 on the Richter scale.  It was the largest earthquake that British Columbia had experienced since 1949.

Back to business.  I spoke to Bruce Turris, and Brian Mose at the beginning of the week.  Bruce, previously worked for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for the Groundfish Management Unit, now provides consultancy co-management advice for the Canadian west coast groundfish fishery after setting up Pacific Fisheries Management Inc.  Brian, an ex-fishermen, manages the vessel which he co-owns and is the Director of Deep Sea Trawler Association.  Bruce and Brian explained individual vessel quotas are these transferable quotas are used to manage Canadian west coast fisheries and have made the fishery fully accountable.  Bruce and Brian went on to describe how sponge and coral area closures in the west coast groundfish trawl are used to minimise the impact of trawlers on the bottom habitat.  Brian worked with fishermen to define fishing area closure boundaries, given the criteria for these closures stipulated by environmentalists.

University of British Columbia campus

Mid-week I headed to the University of British Columbia to meet with Rasid Sumaila and his research group.  I gave an informal talk about my WCMT fellowship and PhD.  It was also a pleasure to meet, albeit briefly, Prof. Gordon Munro whom I previously met whilst taking a fisheries economics course back in 2008 at the Centre for Economics and Management of Marine Resources at the University of Portsmouth, England. Prof. Munro was the first to publish papers using game theory in fisheries economics to analyse international fisheries management.  It was particularly great to hear that Gordon Munro is a member of the Winston Churchill Society of British Columbia.

At the end of the week I headed to Archipelago Marine Research Ltd which is in Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, on Vancouver Island. The ferry journey from Vancouver to Swartz Bay was beautiful and very picturesque, especially as we weaved through the islands off the east coast of Vancouver Island.

Greg Clapp from Archipelago Marine Research kindly picked me up from the Swartz Bay ferry terminal.  I was even lucky enough to have a mini tourist tour on our way to Archipelago's offices, before meeting Greg's colleagues, Howard McElderry and Maria Jose Pria, for lunch.  Talking of food I had a lovely halibut burger for lunch...mmmmmm. Greg and his colleague Marie Jose showed me around their offices and introduced me to many people along the way.

Views from Archipelago Marine Research across Victoria's waterfront

Archipelago was established in 1978 and provides marine resource management products and services.  Archipelago have developed a remote electronic monitoring system to help monitor and manage fisheries across the globe including countries across North America, Australasia and Northern Europe (including Scotland).  Archipelago work with representatives from the fishing industry, local communities and government to implement remote electronic monitoring, employing closed circuit camera television camera systems, onboard fishing vessels to fully document fisheries.  I learnt how remote electronic monitoring data is collected, processed and analysed.  Everyone I met kindly gave up their time to speak to me about their role at Archipelago and how electronic monitoring technology is developing.

Before leaving Vancouver I took some time to visit Stanley park, a lovely urban space with some beautiful gardens.  This was a very interesting trip, I learnt about how independent First Nations, British Columbia's indigenous population, have for centuries relied on natural resources, finding much of their substance in the sea, for their food and livelihood.  The Canadian north west salmon fishery has supported the aboriginal First Nation population.  To this day, First Nations engage in resource sharing agreements which can pose challenges for fisheries management.

Stanley Park commemorative statue of Robert Burns

As I walked around Stanley Park I came across many statues, including our very own Robert Burns. Apparently Robert Burns has more statutes dedicated to him, around the world, than any non-religious figure.  There was also a statue of a 'girl in a wetsuit' which was presented to the Vancouver Park Board in 1972 to represent Vancouver's dependence on the sea.

'Girl in a wetsuit' statue, Stanley Park

After a week I left a rainy Vancouver and headed back to Seattle, which was equally wet.  I have a busy week this week with lots of appointments, so I will update you at the end of the week.

Obama has achieved more than the minimum 270 electoral collage votes, so looks like he will be returning to the White House as President.