Rachel Bratton awarded Dalhousie Research Excellence Scholarship

Rachel Bratton, current PhD student and community member in the FishPeoplePlace lab, has been awarded a Dalhousie Research Excellence Scholarship (DRES) by the Faculty of Graduate Studies (FGS).

The DRES is an entrance scholarship designed to support exceptional new PhD students. According to FGS, DRES scholarship are given to “award recipients [that] represent Dalhousie’s emerging leaders, with significant regional, national or international impacts expected from their research.”

Rachel Bratton is a 2026 winner of the Dalhousie DRES scholarship. Congratulations Rachel!

Rachel’s research will examine demographic challenges in Canada’s Great Lakes Commercial Fisheries, particularly those that present barriers to entry for next generations of fish harvesters. This research has emerged as a key question in the FPP lab where in recent years, Great Lakes fishers and managers have expressed concern about the dwindling number of new or young harvesters entering the commercial fleet, potentially threatening the future of these fisheries.

Rachel’s work will use a mix of economic and community-based research to explore this apparent aging trend, providing a holistic view of the challenges faced by prospective entrants to the fishery. Findings are anticipated to enhance the long-term sustainability of Great Lakes commercial fisheries and seafood systems, with relevance to communities throughout Eastern Canada facing parallel issues.

This four-year project is generously funded by the Great Lakes Fishery Comission through a Fisheries Research Grant and supported in partnership with the Ontario Commercial Fisheries’ Association and the Saugeen Ojibway Nation.