Stephen Insley
Conservation Scientist and Arctic Canada Program Director
Western ArcticDr. Stephen Insley is the WCS Canada Arctic Lead and part of the broader WCS Arctic Beringia program, working on the effects of climate change on Arctic ecosystems and northern communities.
He leads two main projects in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region with Inuvialuit partners. The first uses passive acoustics to predict and avoid future shipping impacts through ambient underwater noise monitoring, identifying biologically sensitive areas, and predicting ship noise footprints. The second project collaborates with Inuvialuit communities to monitor seal diet and condition in order to understand ecosystem change and its effect on local food security.
His research background has had three general themes: (1) animal acoustic behaviour; (2) the application of behavioural ecology principals and techniques to conservation biology; and (3) conservation through local stewardship. His approach has involved experimental field biology, mostly with pinnipeds and seabirds, and working with remote subsistence communities in a wide variety of field locations including the Bering Sea, the North and South Pacific and the North Atlantic Oceans.
He has graduate degrees from the University of California Davis and the University of Victoria, where he is an Adjunct Professor of Biology, as well as Postdoctoral experience at the Smithsonian Institution.
Stories and op-eds
What the State of Whales tells us about conservation in Canada
Over half of Canada’s 40 whale species remain at some level of extinction risk.William Halliday, Stephen Insley
Taking different paths: How WCS Canada scientists have adapted to the challenges of COVID 19
Current circumstances have required both adopting some creative solutions and simply accepting that some field work is not going to happen this summer.Ciara Raudsepp-Hearne, Chrystal Mantyka-Pringle, Stephen Insley
Shipping issues are heating up in Canada's western Arctic
Venturing through the Northwest Passage has always captured the hearts of explorers.Stephen Insley
Media coverage
Colony of 'penguins of the North' in N.W.T. threatened by Arctic shipping, researchers say
Here's what deep sea ports and military vessels could mean for Arctic marine mammals
Press releases
See more
- canadamedia@wcs.org
- Website
- Researchgate
