2019 Research Award of Excellence – Dr. Simon Jones

The AAC Research Award of Excellence recognises high quality, innovative and current research that

has had a significant impact on the aquaculture industry in Canada.

Dr. Simon Jones – Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Simon completed his B.Sc. in Marine Biology and went on to obtain his M.Sc.

and Ph.D. in aquatic parasitology from the University of Guelph. He took up an

NSERC-funded postdoctoral fellowship at Wageningen University in the Netherlands

where he studied fish immunology. This led to an NSERC industrial fellowship

in Charlottetown, where he spent 8 years researching the development

of commercial vaccines for use in salmon aquaculture against piscirickettsiosis,

infectious salmon anaemia and cold water vibriosis, among others. In 2000, Jones

accepted a research scientist position with DFO at the Pacific Biological Station in

Nanaimo where he now leads the Marine Parasitology Program. This research program

is highly collaborative with strong links to industry and academia, in Canada

and overseas. Dr. Jones’ diverse background and research interests are reflected

in the areas on which the program focuses: pathogen diversity, host interactions

and disease mitigation. Currently, he is interested in disentangling the roles of

environmental, host and infectious factors in the occurrence of proliferative gill

disease, which is emergent and of considerable significance to marine cultured

salmon in BC. His long-term interest in salmon lice seeks to better understand

mechanisms underlying the highly variable susceptibility to sea lice among species

of Pacific salmon and the significance of the threespine stickleback to the ecology

of salmon lice in Western Canada. In addition, he plays a central role in an ongoing

effort to advise the Federal Government on the likelihood and consequences of

risks to wild salmon in BC posed by infection and disease in marine-reared Atlantic

salmon.

In addition to the management of a research program, Dr. Jones is past chair and

current member of the ICES Working Group on Pathology and Diseases of Marine

Organisms, which provides annual advice to ICES member countries on diseases

of note in wild and farmed finfish and shellfish. Simon also serves as the Canadian

Branch Officer for the European Association of Fish Pathologists. He is a member

of the editorial board of the Journal of Fish Diseases and the Bulletin of the EAFP

and is adjunct faculty at the University of Victoria and Vancouver Island University.

In his spare time, Simon dabbles in wine making, highland bagpiping and general

aviation.