HerringFest 2020 Presenters
Ian McAllister
Ian is a co-founder of the wildlife conservation organization Pacific Wild. He is an award-winning photographer, IMAX Director, and author of 11 books. He is a fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers and the Royal Canadian Geographic Society and a recipient of the North America Nature Photography Association’s Vision Award and the Rainforest Action Network’s Rainforest Hero award. He was named by Time magazine as a “Leader of the 21st Century” for efforts to protect the temperate rainforests of the Pacific northwest. He and his organization have been huge supporters of our fight to save the herring.
Sat. March 7
Dr. Daniel Pauly
Daniel Pauly is a French-born marine biologist, well known for his work in studying human impacts on global fisheries. He is the world’s leading fisheries scientist, a professor and the project leader of the Sea Around Us Project at the UBC Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries at the University of British Columbia. His work has been profiled in outlets such as Science, Nature, and the New York Times, and he has been recognized with numerous awards, including a fellowship with the Royal Society of Canada.
His new book, Vanishing Fish: Shifting Baselines and the Future of Global Fisheries offers a thought-provoking look at the state of today’s global fisheries—and a radical way to turn it around.
Fri. March 6 + Sat. March 7
Dr. Joe Gaydos
Joe Gaydos is a wildlife veterinarian and Chief Scientist for the SeaDoc Society. For nearly two decades he has been working to improve the health of the Salish Sea through science and education.
SeaDoc is a science-based marine conservation program of the UC Davis Wildlife Health Center. They fund and conduct research and use the information to improve policy and management of the Salish Sea’s living resources.
Fri. March 6 + Sat. March 7
CAptain lockhart “locky” maclean
High-seas marine conservation campaigner, circumnavigator and Hornby Islander, Locky MacLean has been at sea protecting life in the oceans for 20 years. Since 2001, Locky has campaigned at Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as a ship captain, director and held various leadership positions overseeing a fleet of 7 ocean-going ships with up to 75 volunteer crew members to end the destruction of habitat and biodiversity in the world's oceans.
Briony Penn
Briony Penn is an award-winning writer, naturalist and educator who has been advocating for herring since they disappeared from Fulford Harbour, where she lives, after the industrial fisheries of the early 80s.
Her bestseller Year on the Wild Side continues to inspire a new generation to stay grounded and connected to the coast. Her collaboration with Xenaksiala elder Cecil Paul in Stories from the Magic Canoe of Wa’xaid was picked as one of the top ten most hopeful books of 2020. She is in her 30th year of writing a natural history column and features on environmental issues.
Dan Lewis
Dan Lewis is Executive Director of Clayoquot Action in Tofino. He was a lead organizer of the mass protests of Clayoquot Summer 1993. In his spare time Dan likes to sing out loud while sea kayaking.
Clayoquot Action is a Tofino-based conservation society committed to protecting the biocultural diversity of Clayoquot Sound. Their goals are accomplished through public education, citizen research and monitoring, and advocacy. Clayoquot Action stands for democratic rights, indigenous rights and the rights of Mother Earth.
Fri. March 6 + Sat. March 7
MP GORD JOHNS
MP Gord Johns is a Canadian businessman and politician. Since 2015, he has served as the New Democrat Member of Parliament for the federal electoral riding of Courtenay—Alberni in the House of Commons of Canada. He is currently the NDP Fisheries Critic. As MP for four years, Gord has fought against increased oil tanker traffic, called for the elimination of wasteful single-use plastics, and worked to advocate for Indigenous rights. He’s passionate about human rights and the state of our coastal environment, and recently launched a Parliamentary petition to stop the herring fishery in the Strait of Georgia.
Fri. March 6 + Sat. March 7
BOB Turner
Bob Turner is a geologist and a former mayor of Bowen Island who now spends his time documenting the Howe Sound area. In recent years he’s captured amazing footage of the wildlife and natural beauty of the Salish Sea
Fri. March 6 + Sat. March 7
Vanessa Minke-martin
Vanessa Minke-Martin is a fish ecologist, science writer and environmentalist who has worked on fisheries management issues in the non-profit sector, government and academia. Most recently, at Pacific Wild, she led strategic campaigns to increase protection for Pacific herring and marine ecosystems on the B.C. coast. Vanessa has an M.Sc. in salmon ecology from the University of British Columbia, where she studied the behaviour of Fraser sockeye in watersheds affected by hydroelectric development, a post-graduate certificate in Environmental Visual Communication (Fleming College), and a joint honours in Knowledge Integration and Biology (University of Waterloo).
Fri. March 6 + Sat. March 7
Matthew Van Oostdam
Matthew was born on Vancouver Island and grew up learning to paddle from the forward hatch of his father's sea kayak. He studied Geography and Anthropology with a focus in Human Dimensions of Wildlife Management in St Johns, Newfoundland.
More recently Matthew has been an elementary school teacher at a Squamish Nation Culture, Land and Language program. At Aya7Ayulh Chet (Cultural Journeys Program) he works as the grade 4-5-6 teacher and the Land-Based coordinator. He works closely with the Squamish Nation Education team to bridge the general BC Curriculum with indigenous practices and ways of knowing.
luke wallace
Luke Wallace embodies a new wave of politically charged folk music, writing the soundtrack for a movement of people rising up to meet the social and environmental challenges of our times.
Fri. March 6 + Sat. March 7