Western silvery minnow (Hybognathus argyritis) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 15

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Biographical Summary of Report Writers

Mark Lowdon, M.Sc., is a fisheries biologist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Canada. He completed his Masters studying the impacts introduced wild rice (Zizania palustris) had on fish and invertebrate communities in Northern Manitoba in 2005. For the last two years he has been involved in a number of projects examining distribution, life history, and the biology of fish species at risk in Canada including the carmine shiner (Notropis percobromus), western silvery minnow (Hybognathus argyritis), and the eastslope sculpin (Cottus sp.).

Douglas Watkinson is a Research Biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada in Winnipeg. He obtained a B.Sc. (1998) and M.Sc. (2001) from the University of Manitoba. He has sampled fish in most of the major river systems of the Hudson Bay drainage. His current research focuses on species at risk and habitat impacts. He is also the co-author of the Freshwater Fishes of Manitoba.

Dr. William G. Franzin obtained a B.Sc. (1967) from the University of BC and M.Sc. (1970) and Ph.D. (1974) degrees from the University of Manitoba. He started his career as a biologist in 1973 with the Environment Canada. In 1975, he joined the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg as a research scientist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada where he continues to work. He was an adjunct professor in the Zoology Department at the University of Manitoba until 2005 and has supervised or co-supervised 10 graduate student theses at the master’s and doctoral levels. His broad fish/fisheries research interests have included fish biogeography and diversity, effects of heavy metal toxicity on wild fish populations, fish genetics, walleye stocking, instream flow issues, invasive aquatic species and recently, species at risk. Franzin has authored or co-authored 45 published papers and reports, dozens of presentations at scientific meetings and contributed to countless departmental submissions and reviews. Dr. Franzin also has had significant management experience: a few years as a section manager and more than a year as an acting division manager. He is involved as an officer in the American Fisheries Society as well. Bill presently is a research scientist and manager, Habitat Impacts Research Section in Environmental Sciences Division, Central and Arctic Science. His interdisciplinary research is focused on fish use of habitat in relation to flow in rivers across the Prairies.