Cohen Commission appoints six eminent fisheries experts to Scientific Advisory Panel
Vancouver – The Cohen Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River today announced the appointment of six prominent fisheries experts to provide independent scientific advice to the Commission’s fisheries research program.
“The members of our Scientific Advisory Panel are widely respected experts in their fields with impeccable credentials whose expertise will be valuable in our examination of the decline of Fraser River sockeye,” said Brian Wallace, Senior Commission Counsel. “The panel will offer important advice to the Commission’s science research team, which is led by Dr. David Levy, a salmon biologist with over 30 years of experience working in the Fraser watershed.”
The Cohen Commission’s Scientific Advisory Panel is made up of Dr. Carl Walters of the UBC Fisheries Centre, Dr. Brian Riddell of the Pacific Salmon Foundation, ocean scientist Dr. Paul LeBlond, Dr. John Reynolds of Simon Fraser University, Dr. Patricia Gallaugher who is Director of SFU’s Centre for Coastal Studies, and Dr. Thomas Quinn of the University of Washington. Further information on the Panel’s science backgrounds is available at cohencommission.ca.
The Cohen Commission was established on November 5, 2023 with the appointment of the Honourable Bruce Cohen as Commissioner. Under its Terms of Reference, the commission will hold hearings to investigate and report on the decline of sockeye salmon in the Fraser River. Based on its findings, the commission will make recommendations for improving the sustainability of the sockeye salmon fishery in the Fraser River, including, as required, any changes to the policies, practices and procedures of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in relation to the management of the Fraser River sockeye salmon fishery.
The Commission is now accepting public submissions on relevant issues through its website. For more information or to make a submissions, visit cohencommission.ca.
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Media Contact:
Carla S. Shore
Communications Director
Cohen Commission of Inquiry
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Backgrounder available: Biographies of members of Scientific Advisory Panel
BACKGROUNDER
22 April 2023
Scientific Advisory Panel
Dr. Carl Walters is a Professor at the UBC Fisheries Centre whose areas of research include the development of rapid techniques for teaching systems analysis and mathematical modeling to biologists and resource managers. He mainly works on fish population dynamics, fisheries assessment and sustainable management. He believes the heart of fisheries is how to manage harvest. The main thrust of his research is to figure out how to design management systems that are robust in an area of really high uncertainty. A member of several grant committees of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada since 1970, he has done extensive fisheries advisory work for public agencies and industrial groups. He has also conducted over two dozen three to ten day workshops in the past decade, for the International Canadian Fisheries Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. In 1992, he gave the keynote address to the American Fisheries Society, entitled: Where have all the Coho Gone? He is the editor of The Open Fish Journal and has been on the editorial boards of the Journal of Applied Mathematics and Computation, the Northwest Environmental Journal, the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, and Marine and Coastal Fisheries. Dr. Walters is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Canada.
Dr. Brian Riddell is the CEO and President of the Pacific Salmon Foundation. After receiving his PhD from McGill University in 1979, Dr. Riddell joined the Science Branch of the Pacific Biological Station (DFO), in Nanaimo BC. After 30 years of service to the public service of Canada he recently retired from the Department and joined the Pacific Salmon Foundation. In science, Dr. Riddell is recognized for his work in population genetics of Pacific salmon culminating in the completion of Canada’s Policy for the Conservation of Wild Pacific Salmon in 2005. However, he is likely best known for his ability to interact with a wide range of organizations and peoples, and his numerous advisory roles. Most notable are his efforts for the Pacific Salmon Treaty (1985) and his chairmanship of the Chinook Technical Committee for 20 years, work with the US National Research Council (Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest 1996) and advising on science and salmon conservation in the Pacific Northwest.
Dr. Paul LeBlond is an ocean scientist, born in Quebec City and now residing on the coast of British Columbia. A graduate of McGill University and the University of British Columbia, Dr. LeBlond taught physics and oceanography at the University of British Columbia where he is now an emeritus professor. He has conducted research and directed graduate students in a wide range of ocean phenomena, particularly on waves, tides, tsunamis and coastal oceanography as well as on the impact of ocean currents and conditions on fish migrations. He was program leader of the Ocean Productivity Enhancement Network, leader of the Canadian World Ocean Circulation Experiment, and served the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) as Chairman of the Physical Oceanography and Climate Committee. Dr. LeBlond was a member of the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council, created by Minister John Crosby after the northern cod collapse and subsequently a member, and later chair of the Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council. He is a fellow of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society and of the Royal Society of Canada.
Dr. John Reynolds is a professor at Simon Fraser University, where he holds the Tom Buell BC Leadership Chair in Salmon Conservation and Management. His research focuses on understanding connections between salmon and their ecosystems, emphasizing implications for conservation and sustainability. This includes research on numerous streams in both the Fraser Basin and in the Great Bear Rainforest. Dr. Reynolds has held a wide range of scientific advisory positions, including the BC Pacific Salmon Forum and the Skeena Independent Science Review Panel. He has written five books and over 150 scientific articles on ecology and conservation. In 2000, he was awarded the FSBI Medal by the Fisheries Society of the British Isles, and in 2003 he received the J.C. Stevenson Award from the Canadian Conference for Fisheries Research.
Dr. Patricia Gallaugher is Director of Continuing Studies in Science, Director of the Centre for Coastal Studies, and Adjunct Professor in Biosciences at Simon Fraser University. Dr. Gallaugher’s research on salmon physiology and selective fishing conducted in partnership members of the BC commercial salmon fishing fleet, coastal communities and First Nations, the Province of BC and Fisheries and Oceans Canada was recognized in 2002 with the Vancouver Aquarium Murray A. Newman Award for Excellence in Aquatic and Marine Conservation Research which she received with Dr. Rick Routledge and Dr. Tony Farrell. Formerly a professor in Biology at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Dr. Gallaugher has helped to develop a number of programs dealing with coastal and ocean resource sustainability issues in BC and Atlantic Canada. In 1998, she initiated the Speaking for the Salmon series of workshops, scientists’ roundtables and think tanks focusing on linking science to policy for the future sustainability of Pacific wild salmon. Dr. Gallaugher is a member of the Science Advisory Committee for the Canadian Healthy Oceans Network (CHONe), Board Member of Coastal Zone Canada, a co-founder and member of the steering committee of the Canada Ocean Lecture and a co-investigator on the Consortium for Genomic Research on All Salmonids (cGRASP) Genome Canada/BC funded research project based at Simon Fraser University and the University of Victoria.
Dr. Thomas Quinn is a professor at the University of Washington in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. His research focuses on the behaviour, ecology, evolution, and conservation of salmonids fishes. He conducted research in British Columbia as a doctoral student, and also as a post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo. His current research is largely conducted on sockeye salmon and their ecosystems in western Alaska, and on salmon and trout in the Puget Sound region. Dr. Quinn has held a wide range of scientific advisory positions, including the United Sates National Academy of Sciences panel on the status of Pacific salmon in the Northwest. He has written a book on “The Behavior and Ecology of Pacific Salmon and Trout” and over 200 scientific articles on salmon and trout.
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Media Contact:
Carla S. Shore
Communications Director
Cohen Commission of Inquiry
Phone:
Cell:
Email: