Vivian Helliwell's commitment to fisheries conservation is rooted in lived experience — her family has fished the California Coast commercially for 50 years, and the family vessel Corregidor still operates out of Eureka today, bringing locally caught Dungeness crab, halibut, black cod, rockfish, and salmon to market.
That connection to the water shaped a career dedicated to protecting it. Vivian recently completed a long tenure as Watershed Conservation Director for the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA) and its habitat protection arm, the Institute for Fisheries Resources (IFR), where she advocated for water quality and quantity in salmon-bearing streams along California's North Coast.
Her policy experience spans decades, including representation of commercial fishing interests on the Provincial Advisory Committee for Six Rivers National Forest during the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan, service on the 2004 California Coho Recovery Strategy Team, and work as a coastal liaison for the Eel River Recovery Project.
Teaming up with partner Andy Colonna, Vivian has co-authored major public comments on large-scale timber harvest proposals, secured critical stream buffers on sensitive watersheds, and joined the ongoing effort to remove two fish-blocking dams on the Eel River to restore salmon and steelhead passage.
Andy and Vivian currently serve together on the North Coast Stream Flow Coalition, the Eel River Coalition, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), the Scott/Shasta “Flowalition” group, the Salmonid Restoration Federation (SRF), the California Advisory Committee on Salmon and Steelhead, which advises the Director of California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Joint Legislative Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture.
Vivian holds a BA in Natural Resource Economics and Planning from Humboldt State University and is certified in Conflict Resolution, with a specialty in complex natural resource disputes.