Secretariat Staff

The Commission receives administrative and scientific support from its Secretariat staff, headquartered in Vancouver, Canada and overseen by an Executive Secretary.

Staff with expertise in accounting, meeting logistics, publications, records management and IT make up the administrative group and work closely with Fund staff who oversee the management of the Northern and Southern Endowment Funds.

Secretariat staff members also provide technical information and scientific advice concerning various salmon stocks including chinook, and Fraser River sockeye and pink salmon. This group of scientists includes fisheries biologists, biometricians, statisticians, laboratory technicians and hydroacoustic specialists actively involved in the day-to-day regulation of sockeye and pink fisheries throughout the Commission’s area of jurisdiction.

Secretariat Organization Chart

psc secretariat staff org chart

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Our Team

The staff directory of the Pacific Salmon Commission’s Secretariat office.

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Primary Duties

Administration
  • Assist Commissioners, Committee and Panel members in general conduct of their duties
  • Facilitate implementation of Commission decisions and recommendations
  • Prepare and transmit reports, communications and correspondence
  • Make the necessary arrangements for all meetings of the Commission and its subsidiary bodies in Vancouver and other locations
  • Receive and disburse funds in accordance with Financial Regulations (note: contributions to fund PSC staff operations are funded 50:50 by the Parties)
  • Maintain all official files and publications
  • Maintain the PSC library and archives
  • Administer the Commission’s grant programs
Stock Assessment
  • Develop, update and run pre-season fisheries planning models
  • Develop, maintain and interpret reconstruction and run size assessments for various salmon stocks
  • Support stock monitoring, stock ID and management adjustments by providing new analytical tools for faster, more efficient and objective analyses
  • Examine new models in collaboration with the Technical Committees and the Panels
  • Ensure quality of analyses through peer reviewed publications
  • Facilitate exchange of analytical methods among PSC staff and Technical Committee members
Stock ID
  • Estimate sockeye and pink stock composition: sampling design, coordination, collection and analysis (DNA & scales)
  • Assemble files, collate catch data, apportion catch & escapement estimates to stoc.
  • Age and digitize fishery, spawning ground, smolt and research samples (scales, otoliths)
  • Maintain databases and archives
    • Spawning ground abundance, length, age, scale, otolith, DNA
    • Production by stock and age for pre-season forecasting
  • Communications including: Status and TAC (total allowable catch) tables, news releases & regulations, responses to data requests, meeting minutes, writing & compiling FRP annual reports
Test Fishing
  • Pre-season scheduling, hiring and training of test fishermen and test fishing observers.
  • Collect catch, effort, biological and environmental information to index the passage of sockeye and pink salmon populations.
  • Collate fish landings, fish tickets, dock tallies, fish prices and provide payment to test fishermen as required.
  • Monitor (count) sockeye and pink salmon passing upstream of Hells Gate.
  • Analyse historical test fishing information to estimate passage of salmon in-season.
Hydroacoustics
  • Estimate the daily upstream passage of sockeye and pink salmon at the PSC’s fish counting station near Mission, B.C. using hydroacoustics technologies
  • Evaluate and implement sonar technologies and improve sampling design. Develop efficient and robust data processing methods
  • Ensure rigor and transparency of methodology through regular review with a joint PSC/DFO hydroacoustic working group
  • Archive and maintain data
  • Communicate and disseminate results and findings via meetings, the PSC website and publications
Management Adjustments
  • Provide pre-season and in-season forecasts of differences between in-season projections of spawning escapement and post-season estimates of escapement (difference between estimates or DBEs)
  • Compile and maintain historical data required for Management Adjustment models
  • Collaborate with the Fisheris and Oceans Canada Environmental Watch Program to communicate the relationship between DBEs and Fraser River environmental conditions, and to develop and evaluate new DBE forecast models
  • Communicate the results via the Panels