BC salmon farmers promote science director to top job
Kingzett takes over as head of Association as interim boss Ruth Salmon retires
The British Columbia Salmon Farmers’ Association (BCSFA) has appointed its science and policy director Brian Kingzett as its new executive director.
Kingzett, who starts his new role immediately, succeeds the BCSFA’s interim director Ruth Salmon, who is retiring. Salmon took the helm in February last year following the departure of previous executive director John Paul Fraser.
“We are very pleased to have Brian onboard as the new executive director,” said Diane Morrison, chair of the BCSFA and managing director of salmon farmer Mowi Canada West. “He’s been a valuable member of the BCSFA team and in his new role, his experience and knowledge of the sector ensures the Association is in good hands.”
35 years' experience
Kingzett has 35 years of experience in the environmental and aquaculture sectors, amassing professional expertise locally and abroad. He has a BSc honours degree from the University of Victoria and an MSc in marine biology from Simon Fraser University.
He joined the BCSFA in July 2021 as science and policy director, navigating the sector through important new policy development areas, fostering new collaborative research initiatives, and enhancing the Association’s science communications and public education efforts.
Transition process
“We have a lot of work ahead as we accept the challenge of the Federal government’s transition process and further reconciliation with our Indigenous partners,” said Kingzett in a press release.
“I have devoted my entire career to seafood sustainability, and I am looking forward to helping the sector realise its potential as part of Canada’s Blue Economy.”
Kingzett’s work for the BCSFA has included a video debunking a claim made by anti-salmon farming activists that the closure of 19 salmon farms in the Discovery Islands in BC had immediately led to wild salmon smolts being free of sea lice.
In the video, he points out that a louse-infested chum smolt claimed by activists to have been found in the Okisollo Channel in the Discovery Islands was in fact from Nootka Sound, many miles away on the west of Vancouver Island.
