Russia’s Sakhalin Island once boasted the world’s third-largest pink salmon run. But since Shell built an LNG plant there a decade ago, salmon runs have collapsed.

Join three visiting Russian scientists and a noted conservationist who have extensively studied LNG’s impacts. Their compelling presentation is highly relevant to Petronas’ Pacific Northwest LNG project proposed for Lelu Island near the mouth of the Skeena River. Admission is free.

NORTHERN PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS:

Feb 12      Prince Rupert, Lester Centre 7 – 9 pm
Feb 13      Hazelton, Ksan from 12 noon to 3:00 pm
Feb 15      Smithers, Old Church 7 – 9 pm
Feb 16      Terrace, Elks Hall 7 –9 pm

SPEAKERS INCLUDE:

Viktor Afanasev
Viktor Afanasev is a geomorphologist and is head of the Department of State Environment Expert Committee for Protection of Environment and Natural Resources in Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. He has extensive experience in coastal environmental protection surveys and coastal pipeline safety for natural gas pipelines and Liquefied Natural Gas facilities in the Sakhalin Island region of Russia.

Alexander Vedenev
Alexander Vedenev is the Head of the Ocean Noise Laboratory, P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences (SIO RAS), Moscow. He received his doctorate in oceanology from P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology in 1986. In 2002 he was expert of the State Environmental Expertise on the Sakhalin-1 project, was the first who constructed and applied an autonomous bottom buoys with digital recording of industrial noise from oil facilities sited on Sakhalin shelf. Since 2004 Dr Vedenev was a member of the all WGW panels convened by IUCN. Currently his Laboratory is widely involved in an international collaboration on 7FP Projects of the European Commission related to conservation efforts of the marine mammals in European Seas.

Aleksandr Shubin
Aleksandr Shubin is a salmon ecologist living in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia. He has been working as a researcher in the Sakhalin Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography Department since 1982, and has extensive experience studying the effects of natural gas development on salmon and salmon habitat.

Dmitry Lisitsyn
Dimitry Lisitsyn is the Director of Sakhalin Environment Watch and lives in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Sakhalin Island. Dmitry has been working on nature and salmon conservation in Sakhalin Island since 1990s. During the last 15 years Dmitry has been working with industry and governments to mitigate impacts to salmon habitat from the Sakhalin II Liquefied Natural Gas facility, natural gas pipelines in the Sakhalin Island region. Dmitry is also a recipient of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Award he received in San Francisco in 2011 for his outstanding achievements in protecting Sakhalin Island’s critically endangered ecosystems.