Meet Julie:

I’ve worked for Kawerak and with Bering Strait Tribes for over 13 years. My work focuses on collaborating with our Tribes to document Traditional Knowledge and community perspectives, and to apply that knowledge in different policy and resource management contexts. I’m currently focusing a lot of my time on the concept of ‘co-production of knowledge’ in research, research ethics/protocols/guidelines, and editing a book on stories and experiences of the supernatural. I do a lot of advocacy work for our region at the North Pacific Fishery Management Council on federal fishery and subsistence issues.

What drew you to/inspires you about the Caleb Scholars Program?

I had the privilege of working with Caleb on a number of marine conservation issues and he was most definitely a mentor and someone that I looked to for wisdom and guidance (and still do). I think the program plays an important role in providing a place for students with interests, skills and knowledge that can be applied to marine conservation issues that impact their own communities as well as other Indigenous and coastal communities.

What does conservation mean to you?

To me, marine conservation means stewardship. Stewardship is caretaking of the ocean and all the beings in it for the benefit of that system, including the humans that are part of it and reliant on it and responsible to it. Marine conservation means food security and food sovereignty; it means respectful engagement with the marine environment; it means passing on knowledge from generation to generation; it means the harvest and sharing of the bounty of the marine environment.

Taikuu for your commitment to the Caleb Scholars Program!