A young woman who went to high school in Rossland and grew up fishing in the area has received one of four $1,500 scholarships from the Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C.
Erin Fulcher learned to fish from her dad, who took her fishing at Christina Lake, Champion Lake, Nancy Greene Lake and streams around Rossland.
She is working to complete her Bachelor of Science degree in Fisheries and Aquaculture at Vancouver Island University. She expects to finish in December and the scholarship will support her during her final semester.
Over the summer she worked as a research assistant studying larval white sturgeon, a species native to the Columbia River.
“We were doing research on larval white sturgeon, so we actually spawned with the surgeon centre at school and then raised the fish, and then we were doing research to determine how the larval sturgeon were influenced by changes in temperature,” she explains. “Kind of like global warming impacts.”
Fulcher isn’t sure yet what she’ll do when she graduates, but she’s like to do something in fish rearing.
“So taking care of fish and raising fish. Where that might be I’m not sure yet,” she says.
Fulcher also had previous experience in her field before beginning her degree. She completed a diploma in Renewable Resource Management at Lethbridge College and a certificate in Fish and Wildlife Technology. She also worked as a Fisheries and Oceans summer student in Sault St. Marie, Ont. in their Sea Lamprey Control program and worked as an aquatic specialist in Calgary.
Asked why fish are some important to her, Fulcher said, “I’ve just always really enjoyed working with fish. I like the hands-on aspect of it,” she said. “It’s a rewarding thing. Fish are at great risk based on how our climates changing and how we impact the population, so it’s just something that’s really important to me.”
At the moment, Fulcher is working with white sturgeon, in a work opportunity with the International Centre for Sturgeon Studies over the semester.
