Research and Publications

Dr. Phelps Bondaroff conducts a wide range of research both as an independent academic scholar, through his strategy and research consultancy, The Idea Tree, as well as in his roles as Director of Research for OceansAsia, and Research Coordinator for the BC Humanist Association.

Teale Phelps Bondaroff speaking at Fish Crime Symposium

As a consultant, Dr. Phelps Bondaroff has examined such topics as:

Marine debris, derelict fishing gear, and oceanic plastics.
Shark finning and shark conservation strategies.
Sea grass and carbon sequestration.
Greenland halibut, whale, and krill conservation.
The impact of protected bike infrastructure and local businesses.
Wildlife crime in sea cucumber fisheries.

An expert in illegal fishing, Dr. Phelps Bondaroff's work has played a central role in efforts to re-framing illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing as a form of organized crime, an important step to encourage states to invest adequate resources in combating this crime and he is one of the world's leading experts on sea cucumber wildlife crime.

You can learn more about his current research projects on the Campaigns and Projects page.

The principle focus of Dr. Phelps Bondaroff's academic research is the strategic use of international law by non-state actors. This focus has led him to study the strategies of organizations such as the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Women on Waves, the Seasteading movement, the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea, and similar groups.

He also studies:

Illegal fishing and the international politics of marine conservation.
Canadian and BC politics.
Arctic and Antarctic politics and conservation issues.
Separation of religion and government in Canada and BC.

Publications

Peer Reviewed Publications

Foster, Sarah J., Sydney Ascione, Francesca Santaniello, and Teale Phelps Bondaroff (2025). “Tracking the illegal trade in seahorses through seizures reported online.” Conservation Biology, e70047.
Morrow, Felix, Teale Phelps Bondaroff, Nivedita Tanksali, and Bryce Casavant. (2025).
“Characterizing Canadian sea cucumber fisheries: history, regulation, and compliance.” SPC Beche-de-mer Information Bulletin, 45, 63-75.
Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, and Felix Morrow. (2023). "Sea Cucumber Crime." In The World of Sea Cucumbers: Challenges, Advances, and Innovations. Ed. Annie Mercier, Jean-Francois Hamel, Andrew Suhrbier, and Christopher Pearce. Elsevier, 171-198.
Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, Jean-François Hamel, and Annie Mercier. (2023). "Mystery, Muse, Monster: Sea cucumbers in popular culture." In The World of Sea Cucumbers: Challenges, Advances, and Innovations. Ed. Annie Mercier, Jean-Francois Hamel, Andrew Suhrbier, and Christopher Pearce. Elsevier, 87-108.
Hamel, Jean-François, Teale Phelps Bondaroff, and Annie Mercier. (2023). "Beyond beche-de-mer: Sea cucumber in non-traditional food products, health supplements and biotechnology." In The World of Sea Cucumbers: Challenges, Advances, and Innovations. Ed. Annie Mercier, Jean-Francois Hamel, Andrew Suhrbier, and Christopher Pearce. Elsevier, 77-86.
Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, Katie E. Marshall, Ian Bushfield, Ranil Prasad, Noah Laurence, Adriana Thom, & Alexandre Darveau-Morin. (2022). “Change and prayers: An analysis of prayers in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, 2003-2020.” In Legislatures in Evolution: Changes, Challenges, Questions. Canadian Study of Parliament Group. University of Ottawa Press.
Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, Morrow, Felix, Bennett, Abigail, Petroza-Gutiérrez, Carmen, Gore, Meredith L., & López-Rocha, Jorge A. (2022). “Characterising changes in a decade of Mexicans sea cucumber crime (2011–2021) using media reports.” SPC Beche-de-mer Information Bulletin, 42, 11-35.
Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, Ian Bushfield, Katie E. Marshall, Ranil Prasad, & Noah Laurence. (2021). “Thoughts on Prayers: An Analysis of Prayers in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, 2003-2019.” Canadian Parliamentary Review, 44:3, 12-24.
Phelps Bondaroff, Teale. (2021, March). "Sea cucumber crime in India and Sri Lanka during the period 2015-2020." SPC Beche-de-mer Information Bulletin, 41, 55-65.
Bushfield, Ian, & Teale Phelps Bondaroff. (2020). “Arbiters of Faith: Legislative Assembly of BC Entanglement with Religious Dogma Resulting from Legislative Prayer.” Secularism and Nonreligion, 9, 1-16.

Phelps Bondaroff, Teale. (2020). “A Typology of Direct Action at Sea.” In Non-Human Nature in World Politics: Theory and Practice, Eds. Joanna Castro Pereira and André Saramago. Switzerland: Springer Nature, 279-310.
Burke, Danita Catherine, & Teale Phelps Bondaroff. (2018, September). “Becoming an Arctic Council NGO Observer.” Polar Record, 54:5-6, 1-11.

Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, & Danita Catherine Burke. (2014, May). “Bridging Troubled Waters: History as Political Opportunity Structure.” Journal of Civil Society, 10:2, 165-183.

Eilstrup-Sangiovanni, Mette, &Teale Phelps Bondaroff. (2014, July). “From Advocacy to Confrontation: Direct Enforcement by Environmental NGOs.” International Studies Quarterly, 58:2, 348-361.

Phelps Bondaroff, Teale. (2008, Summer). “Throwing a Wrench Into Things: The Strategy of Radical Environmentalism.” Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, 10:4, 1-23.

Non-Peer Reviewed Publications

Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, & Bushfield, Ian. (2025 April). “Prayer Free BC.” BC Humanist Association, 1-41.
Kerri, K., Teale Phelps Bondaroff, & Ian Bushfield. (2024 October). “An Impossible Task: Unconstitutional prayers in Saskatchewan municipal council meetings.” BC Humanist Association.
Kerri, K., Teale Phelps Bondaroff, & Ian Bushfield. (2024 May). “The last municipality standing: Unconstitutional prayers in Alberta municipal council meetings.” BC Humanist Association, 1-63.
Phelps Bondaroff, Teale. (2024). “Municipal Prayer in Canada.” Eurel.
Phelps Bondaroff, Teale. (2024). “Legislative Prayer in Canada.” Eurel.
Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, Ranil Prasad, Noah Laurence, Alexandre Darveau-Morin, Ian Bushfield, & Adriana Thom. (2023 December). "Legislative Prayer Across Canada." 3rd Ed. BC Humanist Association, 1-8.
Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, Ian Bushfield, Olivia Jensen. (2023 November). “We yelled at them until they stopped: Revisiting prayers in BC municipal council meetings and the power of secular advocacy.” BC Humanist Association, 1-66.
Arthur, Joyce, Annaliese Downey, Angela Katelieva, Olivia Jensen, Katelyn Mitchell, Teale Phelps Bondaroff. (2023 March). "Examining the websites of anti-choice 'crisis pregnancy centres.'" Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada and BC Humanist Association, 1-117.
Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, Jensen, Olivia, Chowdhury, Pratigga, & Bushfield, Ian. (2022 December). “Open for unconstitutional business: Prayers at municipal councils in Ontario.” BC Humanist Association, 1-177.
Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, Nivedita Tanksali, & Charles D. Ledbetter. (2022 August). "Tackling marine plastic pollution with a focus on lower-income countries." Global issues in public administration 2021: Environment and climate change. Korea Institute of Public Administration, 12-40.
Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, Thom, Adriana, Prasad, Ranil, & Bushfield, Ian. (2022 March). “In open defiance: Unconstitutional prayers at municipal councils in Manitoba.” BC Humanist Association, 1-52.
Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, Ranil Prasad, Noah Laurence, Alexandre Darveau-Morin, Ian Bushfield, & Adriana Thom. (2021 December). "Legislative Prayer Across Canada." 2nd Ed. BC Humanist Association, 1-8.
Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, & Stokes, Gary. (2021). “Indo-Pacific finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides) conservation in Hong Kong SAR.” International Whaling Commission, SC/68C/SM/04.
Phelps Bondaroff, Teale. (2021 August). "Universal access to no-cost prescription contraception in BC: Information sheet." Version 4. AccessBC Campaign for free prescription contraception.
Thom, Adriana, Ian Bushfield, & Teale Phelps Bondaroff. (2021 June). "An extra burden: The clergy residence deduction." BC Humanist Association, 1-32.
Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, Adriana Thom, Ranil Prasad, & Ian Bushfield. (2021 February). "A public good? Property tax exemptions for places of worship in British Columbia." BC Humanist Association, 1-37.

Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, & Sam Cooke. (2020 December). “Masks on the beach: The impact of COVID-19 on marine plastic pollution.” OceansAsia, 1-80.
Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, Adriana Thom, Ranil Prasad, & Ian Bushfield. (2020 September). “In the public benefit? Tax exemptions for places of worship in BC.” BC Humanist Association, 1-14.
Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, Noah Laurence, Ranil Prasad, Adriana Thom, Alexandre Darveau-Morin, & Ian Bushfield. (2020 September). “Duty of neutrality beyond Saguenay: Prayers at municipal councils in British Columbia.” BC Humanist Association, 1-36.
Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, Ranil Prasad, Noah Laurence, Alexandre Darveau-Morin, Ian Bushfield, & Adriana Thom. (2020 August). "Legislative Prayer Across Canada." 1st Ed. BC Humanist Association, 1-8.

Phelps Bondaroff, Teale. (2020, May). “Report and Recommendations: The Urgent Need for Conservation Measures to Protect the Hong Kong Finless Porpoise.” Ed. Gary Stokes, OceansAsia, 1-16.

Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, Ian Bushfield, Katie E. Marshall, Ranil Prasad, & Noah Laurence. (2020 May). "Decolonizing Legislative Prayers: A House of Prayers Supplementary Report." BC Humanist Association, 1-26.

Phelps Bondaroff, Teale. (2019 December). "Universal Access to No-cost Prescription Contraception in BC - Information Sheet." Version 3. AccessBC Campaign for Free Prescription Contraception, 1-4.

Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, Ian Bushfield, Katie E. Marshall, Ranil Prasad, & Noah Laurence. (2019 September). "House of Prayers: An Analysis of Prayers in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, 2003-2019." BC Humanist Association,1-138.

Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, & Wietse van der Werf. (2019 August). “The CO2 and Fuel Efficiency of the Sea Ranger Service Sailing Work Vessels Explained.” Sea Ranger Service.

Phelps Bondaroff, Teale. (2018 February). “Abandoned, Lost, or Otherwise Discarded Fishing Gear in Canada’s Greenland Halibut Fishery.” Ed. Stephanie Ferguson. The Idea Tree Consulting, on behalf of World Animal Protection. Unpublished research report, 1-77.

Phelps Bondaroff, Teale. (2017 December). “Pandora Bike Lanes: Qualitative Study of Perceptions of, and Impacts on Local Businesses in Lower Pandora.” The Idea Tree Consulting, on behalf of the Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition (GVCC). Unpublished research report, 1-9.

Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, & Stephanie Ferguson. (2017 January). “Seagrass and Carbon Sequestration in the North Sea: A Role for the Sea Ranger Service.” The Idea Tree Consulting, on behalf of the Sea Ranger Service, Rotterdam, Netherlands. Unpublished research report, 1-43.

Ferguson, Stephanie, & Teale Phelps Bondaroff. (2015 October). "Ghosts of the North: Lost and Derelict Fishing Gear in Canadian Waters." The Idea Tree Consulting, on behalf of World Animal Protection. Unpublished research report, 1-102.

Phelps Bondaroff, Teale, Tuesday Reitano, & Wietse van der Werf. (2015 April). “The Illegal Fishing and Organized Crime Nexus: Illegal Fishing as Transnational Organized Crime.” The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime and The Black Fish, 1-84.

Phelps Bondaroff, Teale. (2015 June). "Direct Enforcement on the High Seas: The Strategy of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society." Unpublished doctoral thesis. University of Cambridge.

Ferguson, Stephanie, & Teale Phelps Bondaroff. (2012 October). "Transition Cambridge: Vision for 2030." Transition Cambridge, 1-23.

Phelps Bondaroff, Teale. (2011 Spring). “Sailing with the Sea Shepherds.” Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, 13:3, 1-55.

Book Reviews

Phelps Bondaroff, Teale. (2011 March). “Review: Jun Morikawa, Whaling in Japan: Power, Politics and Diplomacy, London, Hurst, 2009, ISBN13 9781850659846 (pbk), ISBN13 9781850659839 (hbk), 170 pp.” Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 24:1 (March 2011), 131-133.