Speakers

Speakers and panelists

Keynote speaker bios

Larry Johnson

President

Nuu-chah-nulth Seafood Development Corporation

President of Nuu-chah-nulth Seafood Development Corporation, current Chairman of the Maa-nulth Fisheries Committee, former Huu-ay-aht Director of Lands & Natural Resources and International Pacific Halibut Commissioner.  Larry has been integral to the successful integration of First Nations and Western Resource Management Systems and brings a unique perspective to fisheries management issues.

Larry participated in the First Nations Fisheries Council’s (FNFC) Aquaculture Coordinating Committee and is a member of the DFO’s Indigenous Multi-stakeholder Advisory Board on aquaculture.

A personal understanding of Indigenous fisheries and actively involved with Treaty Nations, recreational and commercial fisheries has enabled Larry to bring a unique perspective to fisheries management and aquaculture development. Larry is flexible, versatile, poised and competent with a demonstrated ability to easily transcend cultural differences.  

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Dune Lankard

Founder and President

Native Conservancy 

Dune Lankard is an Eyak Athabascan Native of the Eagle Clan who grew up in Cordova (once called Eyak), in Southcentral Alaska. His Eyak name is Jamachakih, meaning “Little Bird that screams really loud and won’t shut up!” Born into a fishing family, Dune’s life education began at age five on the water as a subsistence and commercial fisherman. He later made his living as a commercial fisherman, pioneering fisheries and seafood processing consultant.

When the Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred on March 24, 1989, in his homelands of Prince William Sound, Dune lived up to his Eyak name and transformed into a social change artist and community activist. He became a formidable Native Rights leader, fulfilling the vision his Eyak mother Rosie held for him. Dune founded and co-founded numerous nonprofit organizations, including the Eyak Preservation Council (now called Cultural Defense Fund) and the Native Conservancy. His work has helped secure the preservation of more than one million acres along the Gulf of Alaska coastline.

Dune has received national recognition, including being named one of Time Magazine’s Top 50 Heroes for the Planet and receiving fellowships and awards from Ashoka, Prime Movers, SeaWeb Seafood Champion, and others for his LandBack and OceanBack work. In 2025, Dune was honored with a James Beard Foundation Impact Award, a Maxwell-Hanrahan Food Security Award and a Grades of Green Earth Guardian Award for his leadership in food sovereignty, food systems and land conservation.

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