Per Saxvik is a professional engineer (retired), born in Oslo, Norway in 1925, and educated in Norway and Sweden before coming to Canada in 1954. He joined the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission (IPSFC) in March 1955 as a civil engineer. The engineering work with IPSFC included investigation, planning, design and construction of fishways at Yale Rapids & Hell’s Gate, conceptual design of fishways at Horsefly River Falls and Thompson River Rapids, design of spawning channels & related intake systems at Seton River & Nadina River, hydraulic intake structures at Weaver Creek & Gates River Spawning Channels and other fisheries enhancement projects. He was IPSFC’s last Chief Engineer when the Governments of Canada and USA dissolved the Commission on December 31, 1985. Per Saxvik (and IPSFC engineering staff) was transferred to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), Vancouver, BC as Senior Project Engineer in January 1986, with responsibility for fish passage in the Fraser River Canyon. Prior to retirement from DFO in February, 1991, the work included planning and design and construction of by-pass channels in the Fraser River at Saddle Rock (1988) and Little Hell’s Gate (1989) and a low-level vertical slot fishway at Hell’s Gate (1989). As a private consultant in fisheries & environmental engineering (Saxvik & Associates), 1991-98, he was engaged to carry out on-site investigation and conceptual design of fishways in Bangladesh (1993) and design of a second low-level fishway on the East Bank at Hell’s Gate built in 1994. Photo Credit: The author is greatly indebted to Dan Carnrite, principal web designer at Second Narrows Web Communication, Vancouver, BC for technical assistance and design in setting up this web site. |
