We All Take Care of the Harvest (WATCH)
This project is based on participatory research on seafood safety and marine pollution at British Columbia. The researchers are interested in stablishing a seafood safety monitoring program that is in accordance with the principles of sovereignty for coastal First Nations.
First Nation Health Authority. (2021). We All Take Care of the Harvest (WATCH). Available at: https://www.fnha.ca/what-we-do/environmental-health/watch-project
First Nation Health Authority. (2022). WATCH Project Presentation at Salish Sea Conference. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkCij8NCM6Y
Community consultations and revisions designed to deepen the understanding of the factors that influence seafood safety and are expected to shift with a changing climate.
Risk assessment and biomonitoring of biotoxins in seafood in the region.
This project focus on developing tools to monitor biotoxins in shellfish, toxigenic phytoplankton, and the dynamic environmental factors influencing these (sea surface temperature, for example) in British Columbia. Following the 2015 bloom of long-lasting phytoplankton, which produces a neurotoxin that causes Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning (ASP), the First Nations Health Authority started to gather resources to address the issue of seafood safety in the region. The WATCH project aims at developing tools and guidelines to ensure seafood safety in the region, with a particular focus on climate change adaption.
Community members (community-based coordinators, champions, researchers and monitors from two to four communities) participate in all phases of the project. The main goal includes Indigenous knowledge sovereignty focusing on developing tools and guidelines for climate change adaptation that serve the purposes of the local communities and respect their culture and political arrangements. Moreover, this project has a First Nation and an External Advisory Teams that oversees its activities.
Through their research activities and capacity building workshops, the project forsees the development of mapping and other tools of health monitoring, risk management and climate adaptation plans, as well as communication products to support safety and health-related decision-making.
Documentation produced in community consultations, such as the Marine Biotoxin Workshop
Seafood safety reports.
Academic research on Food Security.
The knowledge created and transmitted through their workshops and related events are shared with the local communities thorough the project’s website and other content and educational platforms.
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Science and Technology Studies, Environmental Health, Pollution Studies