Megan fishing in Nain, Nunatsiavut Labrador.
Megan Bailey is an associate professor in the Marine Affairs Program at Dalhousie University and is a partner on the Apoqnmatulti'k project.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in London, Ontario, in the territory of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak and Attawandaron peoples. This territory is covered by the Upper Canada Treaties.
What is a typical day like in your job?
Every day is different depending on the mix of teaching, supervision, advisory and steering committees, writing, and editing. I move between tasks every hour or so. The variety is nice, but it also means your mind is always leaping from one context or set of concepts to another. I might move from an Apoqnmatulti’k steering committee meeting discussing fine-scale resolution of lobster movements in the Bras d’Or through acoustic tracking, then straight into a meeting about international governance of shared tuna fisheries, and finally into a meeting about research ethics. Never a dull moment.
What do you enjoy most about your role as Professor at Dalhousie University?
Working with students. I love the creative energy and dreaming that is developed through back-and-forth conversation with students. We are so lucky as academics to not be constrained with what is in the world. We can choose to examine what is, or we can choose to contribute to creating new realities and outcomes.
Megan giving a talk on fish and food security to Shad Dalhousie, a national STEAM and entrepreneurship program for high school students.
How is your role with Apoqnmatulti’k different from other projects that you’ve been a part of?
There is so much dialogue that is a part of Apoqnmatulti’k compared to other projects. Decision-making is shared and I learn something every time we have a conversation about what we did, or should have done. The project is a case study in continual improvement, trust building, and mutual respect.
What does Apoqnmatulti’k mean to you?
Apoqnamtulti’k means being part of a team. The words that come to my mind are understanding, respect, humility and belonging.
Megan holding a spot shrimp (Pandalus platyceros) in Prince William Sound, Alaska.
Why do you think animal tracking is important?
It has been said that managing fish is like managing a forest, except the trees are invisible and moving around. Tracking makes visible the behaviours we struggle to understand.
What is something most people may not know about lobster and eel in the Bras d’Or lake or tomcod and eel in the Bay of Fundy?
One thing I did not know about lobster before moving to Nova Scotia is that it used to be sold and used as fertilizer, before it became such a high end and lucrative product.
What is something new you learned while working on this project?
That Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources (UINR) creates incredibly informative and beautifully illustrated books for children. My son loves “The Oyster Garden Kiju’ Tells Her Story”.
What are you most proud of with Apoqnmatulti’k?
The students. They are raising important decision-making moments that usually come and go quickly in the research process. But in the spirit of working together and with intention and compassion they continue to be leaders within the project.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I love to cook, garden, hike, and take my boys on i-Naturalist adventures to log new species that we find around the yard or in the lake. We have even caught (and released!) Kataq (American eel) in the lake that we live on.