Enhancing fisheries education in Canada: The need for interdisciplinarity, collaboration, and inclusivity

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1 Departement of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, Québec, Canada
2 Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Bristish Columbia, Canada
3 Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Brunswick, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
4 School of Graduate Studies, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
5 Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
6 Département de Biologie, Institut de Biologie Intégrative et des Systèmes, Université Laval, Sainte-Foy, Québec, Canada
7 School of Resource and Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
8 School of the Environment, St. Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.2291v1
Published
Accepted
Subject Areas
Aquaculture, Fisheries and Fish Science, Ecosystem Science, Science and Medical Education, Science Policy, Coupled Natural and Human Systems
Keywords
Education, Interdisciplinarity, Fisheries, Network, Fisheries research, Natural sciences, Social sciences, Canada, Policy, Fisheries management
Copyright
© 2016 Turgeon et al.
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
Cite this article
Turgeon K, Hawkshaw SCF, Dinning KM, Quinn BK, Edwards DN, Wor C, Parlee CE, Debertin A, Hawkshaw M, Nelson BW, Zhang F, Benestan LM, Angel E, Morse BL, Mombourquette D. 2016. Enhancing fisheries education in Canada: The need for interdisciplinarity, collaboration, and inclusivity. PeerJ Preprints 4:e2291v1

Abstract

The Canadian Fisheries Research Network (CFRN) was initiated to increase interdisciplinary research capacity through enhanced, cross-sector collaboration. Training in the CFRN was important and unique for students because of the exposure to the realities of industry, government and academics working in close collaboration. As CFRN students, our goal for this paper was to assess whether Canada is appropriately preparing the next generation of fisheries graduates to tackle complex fisheries management problems. This assessment consisted of 1) a systematic review of fisheries-related education across Canada, 2) a reflection on our experience in the CFRN, and 3) comments on the importance of inclusive and interdisciplinary approaches in fisheries education and fisheries research. Based on our assessment, we concluded that the availability of fisheries education in Canada is limited, particularly with respect to interdisciplinary training. We contend that the CFRN enhanced our educational experience by fostering interdisciplinary and inclusive fisheries research. We recommend that the CFRN model be considered both in the development of fisheries education initiatives and in the design of future fisheries research.

Author Comment

This is a preprint submission to PeerJ Preprints.

Supplemental Information

Table A1. Description of the 11 Projects and sub-Projects of the CFRN

Description of the 11 Projects and sub-Projects of the CFRN

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.2291v1/supp-1

Appendix B: Detailed distribution of the fisheries related programs and courses organized by Canadian provinces and/or strength of the link to fisheries

Table B1. Distribution of fisheries-related graduate programs offered by universities across Canadian provinces and territories. Absolute numbers are given in parentheses.

Table B2. Distribution of fisheries-related undergraduate programs by Canadian University. Absolute numbers are given in parentheses.

Table B3. Distribution of fisheries-related courses offered by Canadian University. Absolute numbers are given in parentheses.

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.2291v1/supp-2