RESEARCH
I am interested in using novel technologies to understand marine and coastal ecosystem changes, and inform communities and governments' marine management decisions. My most recent projects include using satellite remote sensing and field data to map canopy-forming seaweed forests in BC and Hong Kong, and researching the best available technologies for illegal fishing monitoring in Pacific Canada's marine protected areas. I have experience with remote sensing, drone surveying, remotely operated vehicle piloting, and eDNA metabarcoding.
Spatiotemporal Distribution, Abundance, and Persistence of Kelp Forests in the Broughton Archipelago, British Columbia, Canada
Kelp forests are highly productive coastal ecosystems on 25% of the world’s coastlines, providing key biogenic habitats in nearshore ecosystems. These ecosystems are experiencing variable changes worldwide, ranging from detrimental impacts from climate change and pollution to trophic collapses. The Broughton Archipelago, located in Kwakwakaʼwakw territories (British Columbia, Canada), supports floating kelp forests of various species compositions (i.e. Macrocystis pyrifera and Nereocystis luetkeana) and sizes in a spatially explicit environmental gradient across an outer archipelago subregion and an inner fjord subregion. The Mamalilikulla First Nation, ‘'Na̱mg̱is First Nation, and the Kwikwasut’inuxw/Haxwa’mis First Nation, who formed the Broughton Aquaculture Transition Initiative (BATI), were interested in the status and trends of kelp forests due to their utility as juvenile salmon habitat. For my Master's thesis with the University of Victoria's Spectral Remote Sensing Laboratory, I investigated the spatiotemporal distribution, abundance, and persistence of kelp forests on their territories.
Spatiotemporal kelp distribution and abundance
- Deployed drones, underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), and CTD profilers
- Kelp forests were more abundant in areas of lower sea-surface temperatures, flatter bottom slopes, and higher tidal current speeds
- Sea urchin and sunflower sea star abundances did not significantly affect kelp abundance, but displayed spatial patterns in the study region
Peer-reviewed paper coming soon!
Spatiotemporal kelp persistence
- Utilized Landsat and Planetscope satellite imagery to map temporal changes in canopy-forming kelp area
- Kelp forests were mostly temporally persistent, with most kelp areas displaying increases or no change in kelp areas
- Kelps were more persistent in their centers than the edges of each kelp bed
Thesis Collaborators:
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Other marine plant mapping work:
- Spectral Lab: I created geospatial assets for kelp mapping in BC's north coast and Haida Gwaii
- Hakai Institute: I compared insights between Landsat and fixed-wing derived kelp mapping assets, and am conducting quality assessment of a multi-decadal, BC-wide Landsat kelp time series
- West Coast Kelp: I am conducting an assessment of historical kelp and eelgrass change around Valdes Island for the Lyackson First Nation
Mapping Hong Kong's Sargassum forests with Sentinel-2 satellite imagery
1) A Sargassum bed in Sai Kung, Hong Kong, 2) The same bed on Sentinel-2 imagery in March 2025, 3) The bed detected by a Google Earth Engine-based algorithm.
Seaweed forests are well-known in the west coast of North America, but Hong Kong, a metropolis located in between the tropics and the subtropics, also has its own marine forests! Canopy-forming Sargassum create 3D structure and provide habitat for marine biodiversity. Just like kelps, the Sargassum canopy is detectable from space. I am leveraging Google Earth Engine and open-source Sentinel-2 satellite imagery to create a time-series for Hong Kong's Sargassum forests.
Interactive map coming soon!
Technologies for illegal fishing monitoring in Canada's Pacific Coast
In support of the Marine Conservation Targets (MCT) program, Canada is taking steps to protect 30% of its ocean by 2030 through the designation of protected marine areas with varying levels of protection, including Oceans Act Marine Protected Areas (MPA) and Other Effective Conservation Measures (OECM). As such, the areas where fishery enforcement officials need to monitor for illegal fishing activity have expanded, and monitoring capabilities need to increase accordingly. I conducted a literature search for technologies and algorithms to supplement existing surveillance and monitoring operations, including high-resolution satellite imagery, uncrewed and autonomous vehicles, shore-based monitoring technologies, bird-borne radar, and acoustic technologies, and various machine learning algorithms. I provided recommendations tailored to the specific geography of a protected marine area.
Client:
