Next Tuesday October 3rd, by 6.30 pm at the library of the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto, Loren McClenachan will present a lecture as part of the Fishing Architecture research project.

In the past several decades, marine ecologists have embraced the tools of historians in an effort to reconstruct the history of coastal seas. Loren McClenachan’s talk will explore how information about the past — from written archives and living memory — is being used to understand, conserve, and recover degraded ocean ecosystems.

Drawing on examples ranging from biodiverse tropical coral reefs to productive northern fisheries, this talk will demonstrate the ways that historical documents like photographs and nautical charts have been used to describe ecological change, and what has been learned by this marriage of ecology and history.

Likewise, memories of people working on the ocean —active fishermen — also contain important information about changing seas, as well as insights into embedded cultural values people have about ecological baselines.

Dr. McClenachan’s talk will describe fishers’ perceptions of change in coastal ecosystems, and how perceptions of past baselines interact with contemporary values to create visions of the idealized future ecosystems that they would like to restore.

Loren McClenachan is an Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and History and Canada Research Chair in Ocean History and Sustainability at the University of Victoria. She has a PhD from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, a MA from the University of Oregon, and a BA from Middlebury College. Her research has spanned historical ecology, environmental history and marine conservation. A 2019 Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation, her current work primarily focuses on integrating historical data into fisheries management. She’s lived in Victoria BC since 2021; prior to that she lived with her family on the coast of Maine.