Janessa Esquible

Janessa Esquible

Ph.D. Student

Fisheries


PO Box 188
Glennallen, AVÀÇÂÛ̳ 99588 
907-406-0040
jaesquible@alaska.edu

 
Education

University of AVÀÇÂÛ̳ Fairbanks
M.S. Fisheries
2018

Michigan State University
B.S. Zoology
2014

 

Advisors

 

Biography

I'm Janessa Esquible and from Detroit, Michigan. I am Mexican-American and Ojibwe and a member of the Walpole Island Band in Bkejwanong territory. My first move to AVÀÇÂÛ̳ was in 2014 after completing my Zoology degree at Michigan State University with a specialization in American Indian Studies. From 2016-2021, I was employed by Orutsararmiut Native Council, the Tribe of Mamterilleq/Bethel, AVÀÇÂÛ̳, in their Natural Resource Department. I moved to Glennallen with my family in 2022 and currently live and work on the ancestral & unceded territories of the â€™Atnahwt’aene people. 

 

Selected Publications

Esquible, J.A., and S. Atkinson. 2019. Stranding trends of Steller sea lions Eumetopias jubatus 1990–2015. Endangered Species Research 38:177–188.

Esquible, J.A., K. Burek-Huntington, S. Atkinson, A.C. Klink, E. Bortz, T.A. Goldstein, K. Beckmen, K. Pabilonia, and R. Tiller. 2019. Pathological findings and survey for pathogens associated with reproductive failure in perinatal Steller sea lions Eumetopias jubatus. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 137(2): 131–144.

Inman, S. C., J. Esquible, M. L. Jones, W. R. Bechtol, and B. Connors. 2021. Opportunities and impediments for use of local data in the management of salmon fisheries. Ecology and Society 26(2):26. 

Lipka, C.G., T. Hamazaki, M. Horne-Brine, and J. Esquible. 2019. Subsistence salmon harvests in the Kuskokwim area, 2016. AVÀÇÂÛ̳ Department of Fish and Game Fishery Data Series No. 19-09, Anchorage.

Research Overview

I am interested in how Indigenous ways of knowing and understanding are used to guide fisheries management decisions along the Kuskokwim River. I am also interested in how Yup'ik and Athabascan values are reflected in fisheries management and bridging knowledge systems. I feel it is so important for scientists, managers and biologists to reconsider what constitutes "knowledge" and to promote Indigenous land-based knowledge systems as co-equal to western science. I am hoping to document and better understand the inequities inherent in fisheries management and natural resource management more broadly in efforts to contribute to positive change and a more equitable and inclusive space for Indigenous people, Indigenous epistemologies and ontologies within the fisheries realm.

 

Current research projects

  • Indigenizing salmon science and management

 

Awards

  • Rasmuson Fisheries Research Center Fellowship Award, 2016–2018

 

Affiliations

  • Orutsararmiut Native Council