VIU’s sturgeon centre drawing international attention
NANAIMO — A unique facility at Vancouver Island University is maturing into an international draw for students and researchers alike.
The International Centre for Sturgeon Studies, which is now five-years-old, is near the top of the list in its field, according to Don Noakes, VIU’S dean of science and technology.
He says there are not many captive brood stocks of the protected fish out there, noting VIU may be the only university with a program with white sturgeon.
“There’s a lot of interest from B.C. students, but there’s a lot of interest internationally from students that want to come here, as well as other researchers that want to come and work with our sturgeon here,” says Noakes.
Noakes says one of the key aspects of their fisheries and aquaculture program is training students how to raise a variety of fish, noting the biology of the sturgeon is such that it gives graduates a wide-range of skills that can be applied in many different fields.
The facility at VIU’s Nanaimo campus will likely remain in a class of its own, according to Noakes, because you can’t go out and simply find sturgeon brood stock and it takes about 15 years for the sturgeon to mature to the point where they can spawn.
VIU, Noakes says, has been working with the over 200-million-year-old fish for 25 years.