Our research aims to inform evidence-based conservation, policy, and management in the marine environment. We're broadly interested in assessing the impacts of global change on imperilled species, understanding the effects of stressors on migrating fishes, and improving the management and sustainability of aquaculture. We often use field studies and statistical modelling approaches to address our research questions.

Much of our research focuses on Pacific salmon, which have great importance to the ecology, economies, and cultures of North America's west coast. Other ongoing research topics include conservation aquaculture of endangered abalone, habitat suitability of kelp forests in warming oceans, and government processes for fishery-science advice to policy makers (e.g., Godwin et al. 2023). Below are three vignettes highlighting our main research themes.
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Photos: Fernando Lessa
Marine ecology of salmon
Pacific salmon are a defining ecological force along North America's west coast. Their remarkable migrations link marine, freshwater, and terrestrial food webs, and their presence can determine the health of entire ecosystems. Numerous populations are experiencing drastic declines, risking local extinction for salmon and for the myriad species that rely on them. Our economies and cultures also stand to suffer greatly with these collapses. Poor marine survival appears to be a key driver of salmon declines, especially in the northern half of their range, but we know very little about the ocean lives of these fish.

We study the effects of stressors on salmon in the marine environment. A large portion of this work has been in relation to salmon aquaculture facilities along wild salmon migration routes. For example, we've found that parasitic sea lice associated with salmon farms are linked to reduced growth (Godwin et al. 2017) and feeding success (Godwin et al. 2018) in juvenile salmon, among other potential sublethal effects. Current projects include research on outbreaks of diseases like tenacibaculosis and investigations into the population-level effects of environmental stressors (e.g., high temperatures and hypoxia) in coastwide Chinook salmon populations.

We also attempt to understand the marine lives of salmon through foundational ecological studies, including ongoing explorations into where salmon go once they enter the ocean, using archival tissues like otoliths and earstones. Our work has helped refine and expand the ways in which juvenile salmon are captured in the marine environment (Godwin et al. In press), opening avenues for study that were previously inaccessible.
Aquaculture sustainability
Since wild-capture fisheries production plateaued in the early 1990s, the world’s dependence on aquaculture has grown steadily. This ‘blue revolution’ has likely helped conserve some wild aquatic species by decreasing fishing pressure, but for others it has brought additional stressors. Finding ways to produce aquatic organisms without negatively impacting wild species and ecosystems will define will define the sustainability, and ultimately the success, of the blue revolution.

Some forms of aquaculture are more sustainable than others and a large body of evidence suggests that salmon farming is on the harmful end of that spectrum. We have extensively studied one of the primary concerns about salmon farms, the transmission of sea lice between farmed and wild salmon, and we've consistently found that these parasites have negative consequences for wild salmon and that current management strategies are insufficient for controlling outbreaks (e.g., Godwin et al. 2021a, 2021b, 2022). Importantly, it appears that these impacts will worsen as coastal oceans continue to warm (e.g., Medcalf et al. 2021, Godwin et al. 2020 and 2021b), highlighting the need for management strategies and policies that are resilient to global change. Our work has directly informed management changes in one of the densist areas of salmon farming in the Pacific Ocean, and informed decisions about the future of salmon farming (or lack thereof) in Canada by federal policy makers.

Our other current research topics related to aquaculture sustainability include assessments of aquaculture feed ingredients and their global nutrient/trade pathways (by grad student Sam Beckert) and explorations into limiting mass mortality during the culturing of endangered white abalone for eventual outplanting in the wild (by grad student Audrey Deutsch).
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Top: Fernando Lessa    Bottom: Sean Godwin
Environmental policy, management, and science advice
Environmental policies shape how, when, and where humans affect the natural world. Despite the obvious importance of these policies, their effectiveness is often taken for granted, especially in light of future environmental change. Our research aims to inform effective policy and management that improve conservation outcomes for wildlife and increase the sustainability of aquaculture both now and in the future. We do this through engagement with managers, policy makers, and Indigenous leadership. We also publish research comparing existing and alternate management strategies (e.g., Godwin et al. 2021b), and ways to improve science-advice processes so that government decision makers have the best available evidence to guide their actions (e.g., Godwin et al. 2023).