Chrys Neville is a research biologist and the Head of the Salmon Marine Interactions Program in the Regional Ecosystem Effects on Fish & Fisheries Section, Ecosystem Science Division at the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo, British Columbia. Chrys has over 25 years of experience leading field research programs studying the marine ecology of juvenile Pacific salmon. She has published and presented numerous papers on salmon ecology and the effects of climate on regional ecosystems and residency of juvenile salmon. Chrys became a biologist due to her love of the outdoors, nature and adventure. She joined the expedition for these reasons and the ability to learn something new about species that she has studied for many years. She comments that over the past 25 years there have been many changes and new approaches developed in fisheries research but the one thing that is unchanged is the necessity to actually go in the field and see first hand what is happening . “The changes that continuously occur between seasons, years or regions always amaze me and without being in the field and observing first hand, many of the subtle changes or shifts would be missed,” she says, “yet these changes may be the best clues to understanding the declines or shifts in salmon productivity”. Chrys will be the chief scientist on this vessel.

Rebecca is a research technician and expedition planner with the Pacific Salmon Foundation. She hails from the Ottawa Valley in Ontario and moved her way across Canada finally landing on Vancouver Island in 2004. The natural beauty and ecological diversity of the island paradise captured her heart, and she has since spent many years on the island working, exploring and studying Anthropology, Carpentry, Resource Management, and more recently Pacific salmon ecology in her various positions as a technician. Her passion for understanding and nurturing the environment extends beyond the aquatic world to the trees, skies, and coastal shorelines where she studies birds and volunteers on projects including migration monitoring at the Vancouver Island University Banding Station conducting point-count surveys of Western screech-owls and Western sandpiper migration research. She is also an avid volunteer with environmental clean-ups, restoration, and education.  Rebecca’s work and studies have led to an adventurous resume conducting ethnographic research in Macedonia, doing carpentry work in Spain and western Canada, and she has worked on various projects for both the South Coast and Yukon Transboundary Stock Assessment Divisions of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Her favorite part of her job is the amazing opportunities to conduct field work in remote locations including snorkeling with Pacific salmon, aerial surveys, and of course, at sea expeditions!  Rebecca plans to continue with her career in the sciences and purse post-graduate studies in Environmental Anthropology where she would like to explore the role of local and traditional ecological knowledge in our current resource management systems. She hopes to employ ethnographic research methods to collect critical qualitive data and oral history that can improve the understanding of past, present and future ecological conditions in the coastal marine and freshwater systems.

Svetlana Esenkulova is a marine biologist with the Pacific Salmon Foundation. For the last ten years she has been studying plankton dynamics in the Strait of Georgia. Svetlana participated in the Gulf of Alaska winter expeditions of 2019 and 2020 and is looking forward to 2022 Pan-Pacific Expedition. During this survey she will be focused on squid and the eDNA component.

Dan is a former research biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada where he studied Pacific salmon and marine fish production trends in relation to climate change, and has additional fisheries research experience in Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia, and James Bay.

His graduate studies were in oceanography and marine fish population dynamics with a specialty focus on commercially-exploited clupeoid populations. Dan has experience as a commercial salmon fisher and also foreign fishery observer for Canada working off of the BC coast, and has significant experience working as the senior environment leader for heavy industry.  He is currently on the board of governors of the Ocean Wise Conservation Association.

Dan’s current science interests are in the competitive interaction of human exploitation of global resources and the real-time and evolutionary consequence to shifting species habitat. He is actively engaged in the global biodiversity achievement dialogue. Dan jumped at the chance to volunteer for the 2022 Expedition and to support the effort to better understand the oceanic life history of salmon. 

Geoffrey was born and raised on Haida Gwaii. He is a member of the Haida Nation and part of the T’aanuu Wolf/Raven clan. From a young age he has chased his passion for salmon and other food fish, shaping his childhood and focusing his professional career. He graduated from the University of Victoria with a B.Sc. in Economics where he spent a semester at home studying Natural Resource Science through the Haida Gwaii Institute. He is currently working for Parks Canada supporting Marine Planning Initiatives and co-management within Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area Reserve and Haida Heritage Site. Geoffrey has a keen interest in cultural, commercial and recreational fisheries that occur in the waters surrounding Haida Gwaii. As part of the 2022 International Year of the Salmon Expedition Geoffrey is keen to understand more about the years salmon spend at sea before starting their migration back to their natal streams. Moving forward he is hopeful that a deeper understanding of salmon will allow future generations the opportunity to have salmon impact their lives like it did his.

Aidan is the International Year of the Salmon (IYS) Coordinator for the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission. His role involves coordinating the IYS Data Mobilization and Likely Suspects Framework Signature Projects with partners from across the Northern Hemisphere as well as supporting the NPAFC Working Group on Stock Assessment and assisting with the coordination of the IYS 2022 Pan-Pacific Winter High Seas Expedition and related activities. Aidan has a Bachelor of Science and Masters of Biological Science, specializing in marine biology, from the University of Western Australia and completed an exchange semester at the University of Ottawa. Aidan’s work experience has ranged from environmental and marine science consulting roles, including marine turtle monitoring, work as a Research Assistant with the Western Australian Department of Fisheries and marine science education at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, Canada. Aidan is very excited to participate in the Raw Spirit leg of the 2022 Expedition to be directly involved with the research that is being undertaken through the IYS High Seas Expeditions, to compare results with the 2019 and 2020 Expeditions and to be part of a historic and adventurous journey!

Brenden Lewis hails from Campbell River where he lives with his wife, Amanda and their two dogs. He has a lifetime of experience in the coastal waters of Vancouver Island where he began fishing with his family as a child. He is a third-generation commercial fishermen that grew up working on his father’s boat and still fishes with him today. Brenden has a range of experience longlining halibut around Haida Gwaii, gillnetting herring, trolling for sockeye salmon in the Johnstone Straits, prawning, and fishing offshore for tuna.

Brenden was eagerly recruited by Mike Banks, his fishing partner, after Mike joined the team. He didn’t bat an eye at the opportunity to head to the high seas and join an adventurous research team. He is contributing critical knowledge of longline and gillnetting methods to the expedition. Brenden’s hope for the expedition is that this research will help to improve our ability to manage and conserve Pacific salmon so future generations can enjoy them like he has.

Mike Banks is a first-generation commercial fisherman and captain with over 20 years’ experience fishing on the Pacific Ocean. He is a father of three and is the owner and operator of a busy fishing business that he and his partner, Ashley, manage year-round. Mike is bringing extensive fishing experience and knowledge of the marine environment to the 2022 Expedition. His background includes trolling for salmon and tuna, longlining for halibut, gillnetting for herring, and has also worked as a deckhand on prawn vessels. He has fished all over Vancouver Island, the central and north Coast and in offshore waters. Mike has been an integral part of planning, fabrication and assembling of the longline fishing gear and he is very excited to join the team and contribute to research focused on improving our knowledge of salmon ecology. He hopes to teach his children and future grandchildren to fish and pass on sustainable fishing practices for generations to come.