Eric Prestegard, outgoing executive director of Douglas Island Pink & Chum, Inc., leads a tour of the Macaulay Salmon Hatchery in this January 2016 file photo. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)

Eric Prestegard, outgoing executive director of Douglas Island Pink & Chum, Inc., leads a tour of the Macaulay Salmon Hatchery in this January 2016 file photo. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)

DIPAC’s longtime executive director retires

He had been executive director since 2002.

Douglas Island Pink and Chum, Inc.’s executive director is retiring, and his successor has been named.

Eric Prestegard is retiring after 23 years with DIPAC, according to DIPAC.

He has served as executive director since 2002. He joined DIPAC in 1996 to assist with taking over operations of the state-owned Snettisham hatchery.

[After 30 years, DIPAC aquarium keeper calls it a career]

He will remain on staff for two more years to help finish capital projects, DIPAC told the Empire via email, and he will be an adviser to incoming executive director Katie Harms.

Harms said neither she nor Prestegard wished to comment on the changes at this time.

Harms joined DIPAC in 2012 as a seasonal tour guide and fish technician. She has been with DIPAC full time since 2014 as tourism and education manager.

DIPAC is a salmon hatchery that formed in 1976, according to DIPAC. It incubates, rears and releases four species of Pacific salmon. Its facilities include the Ladd Macaulay Visitor Center, which features a 5,000-gallon aquarium.

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