MHFC Initiatives
Our initiatives turn the MHFC's mission into specific projects with partners. Each one tackles a real management question in Atlantic Canada & builds tools others can use.
Explore Our Initiatives
Six focused research areas working together for healthier oceans, resilient communities & sustainable fisheries.
Fisheries in a Changing Climate
We model how warming water and shifting habitat change where species live and how they recover. Current work covers American lobster in Atlantic Canada and the recovery of barndoor skate and other depleted species.
Counting Fish with Genetics
Close-kin mark-recapture estimates population size from the DNA of related fish, without traditional tagging. With the Ruzzante Lab, we are applying it to Atlantic halibut and developing an epigenetic "ageing clock" so fish can be aged from a tissue sample.
Spatial Stock Assessment for Shellfish
We build high-resolution spatial models that show where shellfish are, how many there are and how fishing affects them. Work with Clearwater Seafoods and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) produced a new assessment framework for Arctic surf clam on Banquereau and the Grand Banks. We also support DFO's sea scallop assessments.
Training & Capacity Building
We help deliver Dalhousie's Master of Fisheries Science, supervise graduate and postdoctoral researchers, and run short courses for working scientists, including training in Template Model Builder (TMB) for fisheries modelling.
Shared Data & Mapping
We help partners combine and share spatial data, and turn it into maps and interactive tools that non-specialists can use. See our story map on sustainable clam fisheries for an example.
Small-scale Fisheries & Ocean Foods
We study the ecological and human sides of small-scale fisheries, from livelihoods to seafood trade. A 2026 study in Nature, co-authored by MHFC co-director Aaron MacNeil, showed the nutritional value of shellfish and other invertebrate aquatic foods.