Fish–People–Place:Interweaving Knowledges to Elucidate Pacific Salmon Fate

Migratory organisms carry high ecological and cultural significance as their cyclic movements through time and space create influxes of nutrients into ecosystems and provide important sources of food to people -imprinting on cultures, bodies of practice and management as well as knowledge systems.However, their often long-distance movements between habitats expose them to multiple and potentially interacting risks.Migratory Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) are threatened by a suite of stressors, both known (e.g., overfishing, climate change) and unknown, that jeopardize their wellbeing as well as that of linked social-ecological systems.A central focus of this thesis is to elucidate the ultimate fate (i.e., survival to spawning grounds) of salmon who 1 encounter fishing gears but either escape or are released as bycatch, and how this fate is shaped by other factors at play (such as rising temperatures).To gain an improved understanding of what other potential factors may be, a second focus here is to identify leading threats endangering salmon and aquatic ecosystems more generally.Different ways of knowing are valued and interwoven in this work, motivated by the Mi'kmaw conceptual framework of Etuaptmumk or "Two-Eyed Seeing" which creates a pathway for learning from both Indigenous and Western sciences, using their distinct strengths and methodologies in tandem.Experimental fisheries approaches, carried out in partnership with local and Indigenous fishers and fisheries managers, reveal that the context of salmon capture significantly Nat'oot'ten, Peters, Stó:lō, Secwépemc, St'át'imc, Tŝilhqot'in, Ts'msyen and xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm Nations who welcomed me to their territories and shared with me their love of wild salmon and healthy rivers.I am forever grateful to the Nisga'a Nation, communities, citizens and knowledge keepers who have so warmly welcomed me home to the Nass River Valley.My gratitude also goes to the fish and Lisims (Nass River) who are at the very heart of it all.The Nisga'a Nation has played a central role in supporting me throughout my studies, and I express my thanks both to them and the Gingolx Village Government's Education Department, especially Renee Garner who encouraged me at every turn and spawned the idea for our annual salmon science camps that have been a highlight of my PhD.I also thank the other major funding sources who have made significant investments in me as an early career scientist, including Carleton University, Indspire, the New

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