Salmon Steward is the official publication of the Pacific Salmon Foundation in British Columbia, Canada
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1182504
www.psf.ca | Fall/Winter 2019 The Pacific Salmon Foundation was established in 1987 as an independent, non-governmental, charitable organization to protect, conserve and restore wild Pacific salmon populations in British Columbia and the Yukon. Today, PSF galvanizes the breadth of vested stakeholders to support Pacific salmon from stream to estuary to ocean. PSF: • Raises money and makes grants to volunteer community groups that conserve and restore streams across the province. • Manages watershed initiatives in British Columbia that catalyze industry, First Nations, provincial and federal governments, and other non-profits. • Advances science to improve the understanding of factors that limit the abundance of Pacific salmon. • Works with government to prioritize and facilitate strategic salmon conservation in the province. Web Resources: PSF.CA SALMONWATERSHEDS.CA MARINESURVIVALPROJECT.COM " I 've loved fish ever since I was a kid," says Dr. Emiliano Di Cicco, who five years ago moved to Vancouver Island from Italy to research salmon disease through the Pacific Salmon Foundation's Strategic Salmon Health Initiative. His passion for fish started with tanks in his bedroom that led to a PhD in fish health and a healthy obsession with fly fishing for Steelhead. "I was supposed to become a veterinary surgeon, but I had to give it up when I injured my arm. Fortunately, my professor at the time noticed I could identify a ll of the fish species. He suggested I pursue fish patholog y." A grant funding foreign studies brought Di Cicco to Canada to study Pacific salmon. Italy has trout, grayling and other species he grew up fishing – but no Pacific salmon. "I still remember the first day I fly fished for a salmon," he says. "It was May 2, 2007. Vancouver Island University students were using fly fishing to collect Cutthroat trout off the local beaches for a study." (Cutthroat trout are genetically categorized as Pacific salmon.) "I probably spend about 90 per cent of my time off work fly fishing for Steelhead because I find them the most challenging. They're difficult to find, track, and they're just a very interesting fish with a complicated life history." Di Cicco has made some key contributions to the Strategic Salmon Health Initiative and is excited about the implications. "We have lots of studies on hatchery and farmed fish because they're in closed environments. This is the first time we've been able to build up meaningful information about what's affecting wild stocks. So far our findings are just the tip of the iceberg." PSF Profile Dr. Emiliano Di Cicco, Strategic Salmon Health Initiative, Pacific Salmon Foundation Who Are We? Help us reduce paper and mailing costs! Contact support@psf.ca to sign up for digital copies of Salmon Steward. PSF CURRENTLY EMPLOYS SIX STAFF WITH DOCTORATE DEGREES IN DISCIPLINES FOCUSED ON SALMON GENETICS, HEALTH AND ECOLOGY. On the cover: Kate O'Neill conducts a climate change study in the Tsolum River funded by PSF donors (p.11). Photo courtesy of Kate O'Neill. EDITOR Elayne Sun EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Matt Currie ART DIRECTOR Bernhard Holzmann CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Stephanie Cunningham, Jason Hwang, Elayne Sun PRODUCTION MANAGER Kristina Borys Salmon Steward is published for The Pacific Salmon Foundation by Canada Wide Media Limited. 230, 4321 Still Creek Drive Burnaby, British Columbia Canada V5C 6S7 Telephone: 604.299.7311 canadawide.com No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher. Pacific Salmon Foundation 300 – 1682 West 7th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. V6J 4S6 T: 604.664.7664 | F: 604.664.7665 support@psf.ca | www.psf.ca Canadian Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement No. 40065475 Printed on FSC ® certified paper. Dr. Di Cicco reels in a Steelhead on Vancouver Island. 2 FALL/WINTER 2019 PSF.CA