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Organizing Committee

Herman Wanningen, Project Coordinator
Herman is a Dutch aquatic ecologist with more than 18 years experience. He has worked for regional water authorities on river and lake restoration projects. In 2007 Herman started Wanningen Water Consult. He develops fish migration visions and policies and gives advice on implementing different types of fishway techniques. He gives advice on national and international fish passage and river connectivity projects such as the Iron Gate Dam in the Danube river (Romania) and a Sturgeon project in the Ebro river (Spain). He organizes conferences, network meetings and is the founder of the World Fish Migration Network and Fish Ecology Network on LINKEDin. Herman initiated and coordinated the European guidance on fish migration "From sea to source" (2006) which was also translated into Chinese in 2011. Herman is coordinator and co-author of the worldwide guidance “From sea to source, International guidance for the restoration of fish migration highways” which was published in 2012 (www.fromseatosource.com). In 2014 he coordinated the World Fish Migration Day. This international event was celebrated on 270 locations around the world. The next World Fish Migration Day is scheduled for May 21, 2016. For more information click here.
Olle Calles, Project Coordinator
Since 2013 Olle has been an Associate professor at Karlstad University working as a part for the research group River management and ecology. Before that he got a Master's Degree from Uppsala University (2001) and a PhD from Karlstad University (2006). He also spent one year as a post-doc at Politecnico di Torino in Italy. His work involves extensive collaboration with power companies, researchers, governmental agencies and NGO's. His work on fish migration and rehabilitation of regulated rivers has been mainly in Swedish rivers, but he also participates in projects in e.g. Italy, Latvia and Costa Rica. Most projects deal with migratory wild fish and one large part of their work consist of trapping, tagging and tracking fish. The other large part of their work is to design, carry out and evaluate solutions to rehabilitate regulated rivers for fish. Since 2001 he has participated and led a large number of projects that have contributed to improved knowledge on migratory fish and rehabilitation techniques. The results from their work are frequently presented at conferences and presented in scientific publications. Recently Olle completed a guideline for the Swedish authorities on the Best Available Technique (BAT) for fish upstream and downstream passage at hydropower plants.
Niels Breve
Niels is a Dutch fisheries expert at the NL Organisation for Improvement of Inland Fisheries (nowadays Sportvisserij Nederland). Niels is active on many themes across the sector, e.g. he coordinates the development and deployment of environmental friendly alternatives for fishing lead and works with divers on wreck protection (removing ghost nets). On the theme of fish migration Niels published about improving longitudinal connectivity in complex catchments and on several tagging/tracking studies, e.g. on the survival of the highly endangered European sturgeon (Acipenser sturio) in the river Rhine and North Sea; on sedentary European catfish foraging downstream a hydropower plant; and on the downstream migration and mortality of Atlantic salmon smolts in the river Meuse. Niels is also coordinator of an ongoing tracking study on starry smooth hounds (Mustelus asterias) in the North Sea. Niels received a Msc. in 1994 in Earth Sciences, from the UV University Amsterdam.
Paul Coulson
Paul is the Development Officer for the Institute of Fisheries Management (IFM). As part of his role Paul manages the Institutes conferences and events as well as developing short courses and bespoke training packages. Paul has been responsible for numerous specialist events that include conferences on the Biology and Management of Lamprey (the first one ever held in Europe), Fish Tracking and Telemetry and the European Eel Conference, which was a week long celebration of the eel held in London in 2013. Paul has a background in freshwater fisheries management and specializes in the management of stillwater sport fisheries. He has been involved with numerous projects over the years ranging from small farm ponds to large gravel pits. He can also be found working on the chalk streams of East Yorkshire as he is a Director of the East Yorkshire Rivers Trust and has an active role in the conservation of this unique ecosystem. Paul can be contacted on paul.coulson@ifm.org.uk
Peter Gough
Peter Gough is an technical specialist (fisheries) with more than 30 years of experience in freshwater ecology, fisheries science and aquatic ecosystem management. Gough has worked in the water industry in England and Wales and currently works for Natural Resources Wales (A successor to Environment Agency Wales) on factors affecting the status of migratory fish stocks. He is one of the main players, nationally, in the development and implementation of guidance and management approaches to maintain and improve populations of salmon and sea trout through practical and regulatory measures. Specifically he is involved in the maintenance and improvement of fish migration using fishways, fish easements and weir removal techniques, and the protection of fish populations and their migrations from factors such as barrages, land-use and hydropower. He was involved in the development of the European Guidance on fish migration "From sea to source" (2006) as an editor and is also editor and an author of the worldwide guidance “From sea to source, International guidance for the restoration of fish migration highways” (2012).
Margaret Lang
Margaret is a Professor of Environmental Resources Engineering at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. Her research focuses on the engineering design and effectiveness of river restoration, and laboratory and field studies of fish passage structures.
Kevin Mulligan
Kevin Mulligan is a Ph.D. candidate in the Environmental and Water Resources Engineering (EWRE) Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Hydro Research Foundation Fellow. His Doctoral Dissertation focuses on guidance structures for downstream fish passage. In particular, he is studying the design parameters of partial-depth, floating, impermeable guidance structures using both computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and physical modeling efforts. In conjunction to his graduate studies, he has served on multiple positions (including the Organizing Committee and the Coordination Team) for the International Conference on River Connectivity and Best Practices and Innovations (the Fish Passage Conference Series) since its inception in 2011. He received his Master of Science Degree in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering with a specialization in Fish Passage Engineering in 2013. In 2009, he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering and became an Engineer in Training (E.I.T.).
Peter Paul Schollema
Peter Paul is an Aquatic Ecologist working for the Dutch Regional Water Authority Hunze en Aa’s in the Northeastern part of The Netherlands (www.hunzeenaas.nl). He has been working on issues of fish passage for more than 12 years with a special interest in planning, implementation of measures and monitoring studies. During this period he worked on the realization of about 80 fish migration facilities ranging from small ramps in upper reaches to high tech fish passes at tidal barriers. Peter Paul is also one of the editors and authors on both projects; the European Guidance on fish migration "From sea to source" (2006) and the worldwide guidance “From sea to source, International guidance for the restoration of fish migration highways” (2012). For more information see www.fromseatosource.com
Amy Singler
Amy works for American Rivers' River Restoration Program and The Nature Conservancy's Connecticut River Program managing dam removal projects and promoting efforts to improve river restoration in New England. She also leads regional efforts for both programs on culvert and stream crossing policy and implementation. This is her second year chairing the Advisory Board for the conference. Amy has a M.S. in Water Resources Management from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a B.S. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Rochester.
Teppo Vehanen
Teppo is a senior researcher at the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute, Helsinki, Finland. He currently chairs the Technical and Scientific Committee of EIFAAC. He has been working with regulated rivers for more than ten years, and currently focuses on connectivity issues. His research interests include also Water Framework Directive, especially evaluating biological responses to human influences on riverine fish community. Related interests include experimental studies, mainly with salmonid fishes. For more about Teppo, click here.