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Zaina Lamontagne is a 5th-year Marine Biology student minoring in International Development. Zaina is from Ontario, however,聽聽her family is from St. Lucia, a small island in the Caribbean.聽"Visiting family and spending lots of time in St. Lucia is probably where my love of the ocean came from. I have always loved animals and doing my undergraduate degree in marine biology allowed me to combine two things I love,鈥� she says.

Her co-op journey lined up with the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic.聽聽鈥淪tarting my first work term was a unique experience because I was one of the few co-op students to secure a placement so late into the job competition", says Zaina, 鈥淚t can feel very isolating to work remotely all the time. Despite working remotely, I was lucky to be with great workplaces that made me feel like part of the team.鈥�

鈥淢y first two work terms were completed in partnership with Coastal Action and the Dalhousie Aquatron, and focused on conservation, which is a long-time dream of mine,鈥� she says, 鈥淚 was the Atlantic Whitefish Captive Rearing Project Summer Student, and my聽main role聽was to coordinate the design and purchase of a Streamside Rearing Facility for the Atlantic Whitefish.鈥�

Zaina highlights the importance of this project, explaining that the fish are only found in our province and are a very evolutionarily ancient member of the salmon family. 鈥淭hey are the most endangered fish species in Nova Scotia and are now only found in 3 lakes in the province," she says, "The streamside rearing facility will allow fish to grow in a trailer on-site in water sourced from the lake they will eventually be released.鈥�

Zaina encourages co-op students to think outside the box when it comes to the job competition. 鈥淏efore working on the whitefish project, I never thought I wanted to work with fish, but the co-op program gave me the perfect opportunity to test out fields I never expected to like," she said. Zaina鈥檚 newfound passion has also inspired her studies. "I was聽very fortunate聽to turn my co-op experience and connections into my honours research!", she says, "One of my co-op supervisors, John Batt, is now one of my co-op honours聽supervisors along with Dr. Paul Bentzen. My research will centre on juvenile Atlantic Whitefish."

"Atlantic Whitefish will always have a special place in my heart 鈥� they are truly underdogs and have an amazing team from Dal, Coastal Action, DFO, and others helping their recovery from the brink of extinction鈥�, says Zaina, 鈥淪ince their range is so small and local, there are only a handful of people in the province who work with the species and Dal is聽very lucky聽to have the only captive Atlantic Whitefish, housed in the Aquatron since 2018. The population currently at Dal will serve as broodstock and the juveniles will be released back into the wild (through the Streamside Rearing Facility I worked on!)."

Learn more about the Atlantic Whitefish Captive Rearing Project