A new addition to Jared’s academic year was a course on statistics, which he decided to take after Jim Lane, Uu-a-thluk Southern Region biologist, said it would be useful for a fisheries-based career. “I’m interested in understanding how the various models
used for management, such as run size predictions work, and how statistics are use understand fish and fishery dynamics” said Jared.
“In school we learned how to use statistics and computer programs to describe populations like Somass sockeye mathematically,” he explained. “That is, by understanding the how many four and five-year-old fish are returning in early July, it enables the biologist to determine what the final run size will be by September.”
Through Jared’s university study and summers working at Uu-a-thluk he made a decision to pursue work in the resource management field. This past school year has helped him to further pinpoint his interests in this area.
“This summer I’m looking forward to applying some of my knowledge learned in the classroom and to becoming more
familiar with some of the statistical models used in fisheries,” he explained.
Jared traces his ancestors through the Tsheshat and Hupacasath First Nations through mother Tracey Watts and
father Jason Dick. His qu-us name is Uu-xwinn-mutts, which means “shares the ground with dancing birds.”
Coleton Gomez Leishman joins Uu-a-thluk for his first year as a fisheries intern after completing a foundation year at Camosun College in their Criminal Justice program. He explains that sociology and psychology were among his favorite courses. “I am drawn to the theories of
why people do what they do,” he said.
Although this could be why Cole decided to pursue criminal justice studies, in actual fact his introduction to a career
in enforcement began when he was only four years old. “Luke George who was a conservation officer for Pacific Rim National Park took me out a couple times when he was doing his rounds,” said Cole. “I became fascinated by the important nature of the work, and those experiences have stayed with me.”
More recently Cole has developed an interest in the enforcement aspect of fisheries. The Government of Canada regulates and
legislates inland and marine fisheries, aquatic species, oceans, habitat, fishing and recreational harbours, and marine services fees. However Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations have individual traditions, knowledge and protocols that inform how they manage and care for
aquatic resources. A prime objective of Cole’s summer internship then is to help him to increase his understanding of Nuu-chah-chah-nulth resource management principals and how they could be integrated in fisheries occurring in Nuu-chah-nulth territories. Cole will expand his
skills on-the-job by shadowing Nuu-chah-nulth fisheries Guardians and Fisheries Managers and DFO Fisheries Officers. Cole will also be introduced to the various fisheries used to manage salmon, shellfish and groundfish methods in Nuu-chah-nulth territories.
Cole began his summer internship with a three-day course in Swiftwater Rescue and explained that the professional and calming nature of the instructors immediately put him at ease. “We performed ‘go’ rescues in moving water and self rescues. We also tied different kinds of knots in the course,” he explained. “It was amazing all we learned in three days.”
Cole was born in Yellowknife and raised in Port Alberni.
