Jewel's Lore!

Jewel is a biologist and fisherperson who loves all her fishy friends! She lives at an old abandoned river dam deep within a beautiful coastal redwood forest. The dam was initially built to supply power to the nearby village where Jewel was born and raised. Since then, the town has moved to sustainable energy and left the dam abandoned for years. Jewel’s father ran the hydroelectric dam and taught her the ins and outs of the fishway. A fishway is a method for fish to swim over a dam when moving upstream to spawn. It is formed like a ladder, where instead of one large waterfall (which is nearly impossible for fish to climb), a fishway has multiple levels of small pools that fish can use and take breaks in as they make their trek upstream, like a water staircase! The types of fish that usually utilize this structure are diadromous. Diadromous fish are typically born in freshwater but live much of their life in saltwater, meaning they make annual treks from freshwater to saltwater and vice versa to spawn. When Jewel’s father passed away, she became the sole caretaker of the dam and its fishway. Her daily tasks are to clean out debris from the ladder, count fish and identify them as they pass by, and educate others on fisheries conservation.Jewel’s favorite fish, who loves to stop by and say hello to her in her fishway window, is Buoy the brook trout! Buoy is not a sea-run brook trout, so he is not diadromous, but he still loves to use the fishway to say hello to his best pal on his swim upstream and downstream! Jewel loves Buoy so much that she wears a plushie of him on her head as a hat.When Jewel is not counting fish or cleaning the fishway, she likes to raise money for her cause by streaming on Twitch! Her goal is to educate others on diadromous fish and teach about the effects of human disturbances on the environment (i.e., building dams). Her long-term goal is to raise enough money to destroy old dams and work to rehabilitate watershed ecosystems, helping to reunite fish communities! She plans to do charity streams in the future to donate to nonprofits that are working towards this goal. She also wishes to create better access for people of all communities, especially those marginalized, to fly fish and to feel welcomed and comfortable in the fishing community!

Art by @na-noomi

Jewel's Art Refs

Original Concept By OOZEGOD