Russell is the Founder, Owner/Operator, and President of Outer Shores Expeditions. Russell has spent his life and career as an avid marine naturalist, scientist, sailor, and professional mariner, exploring, studying the BC coast. 

After completing a BSc in Marine Biology at the University of British Columbia, Russell studied benthic marine ecology and phycology (the study of seaweeds) in the Department of Botany, at UBC, where he earned his Masters degree. Russell undertook his PhD in the Department of Zoology at UBC. His dissertation focused on the indirect effects of sea otter reintroduction and subsequent changes in kelp forest size and kelp-derived nutrients subsides, on the population and trophic dynamics of nearshore rockfishes along the west coast of Vancouver Island. His research also investigated relationships between ocean climate variability and the recruitment dynamics of rockfishes, and the design and effectiveness of marine protected areas. As a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability (IRES) at UBC, Russell co-led a large-scale interdisciplinary project investigating a wide-range of outcomes associated with sea otter recovery, including biodiversity, fisheries trade-offs, tourism, and carbon sequestration. All of Russell’s graduate and postdoctoral research was conducted at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre.

Throughout his academic career, Russell pursued parallel careers as a sailor, mariner, guide, educator, and expedition leader on the BC coast. His qualifications and experience include instructional sailing, yacht deliveries, commercial research vessels, Canadian Coast Guard fast-response craft, and ecotourism sailing vessels. 

In 2012, Russell purchased the schooner Passing Cloud and founded Outer Shores Expeditions. From the outset, it was Russell’s ambition to bring together his experience, education, and passion for the conservation of the BC coast that inspired him to create a tourism-based organization that provides exceptional guest experiences while also fostering conservation and stewardship.

After more than a decade of owning and operating Outer Shores Expeditions, Russell thrives upon combining his backgrounds and areas of interests with Outer Shores. During the COVID-19 global pandemic through 2020 and and 2021, Russell co-led the Small Ship Tour Operators Association (SSTOA) Marine Debris Removal Initiative (MDRI), and he’s currently leading the SSTOA Nearshore Hypoxia Citizen Science Project, in partnership with the Wilderness Tourism Association and Oregon State University. Finally, Russell is proudly a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

When not at sea, Russell and his family live in the Cowichan Valley on Southern Vancouver Island, and enjoys boats, tidepooling, free diving, and fish-watching.

Select Publications:

Cascading social-ecological costs and benefits triggered by a recovering keystone predator (Science, 2020) EJ Gregr, V Christensen, L Nichol, RG. Martone, RW Markel, JC Watson, CDG Harley, EA Pakhomov, JB Shurin, and KMA Chan

Contrasting effects of coastal upwelling on growth and recruitment of nearshore Pacific rockfishes (genus Sebastes) (CJFAS, 2020) – RW Markel and JB Shurin

Temporal variability in the environmental and geographic predictors of spatial recruitment in nearshore rockfishes (MEPS, 2017) RW Markel, KE Lotterhos, and CLK Robinson

Quantifying spatial and temporal variations in phytoplankton and kelp isotopic signatures to estimate the distribution of kelp-derived detritus off the west coast of Vancouver Island, Canada (CJFAS, 2017) – BC Ramshaw, E Pakhomov, RW Markel, S Kähler

Indirect effects of sea otters on rockfish (Sebastes spp.) in giant kelp forests (Ecology, 2015) – RW Markel and JB Shurin

Sea Otters Homogenize Mussel Beds and Reduce Habitat Provisioning in a Rocky Intertidal Ecosystem (PLOS ONE, 2013), GG Singh, RW Markel, RG Martone, AK Salomon, CDG Harley, KMA Chan

Oceanographic drivers of offspring abundance may increase or decrease reproductive variance in a temperate marine fish (Molecular Ecology, 2012) – KE Lotterhos and RW Markel