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Ministry Fish Farm Biologists Won't Be Penned
None joined expert body Libs created for 'public interest.'
View full article and comments here http:///News/2008/01/17/Biologists/
By Andrew MacLeod
Published: January 17, 2008
TheTyee.ca
The provincial government has required many of its biologists to register as members of the College of Applied Biology, but not the ones in the Agriculture and Lands Ministry who work on aquaculture and oversee the province's contentious salmon farming industry.
The college monitors members for scientific rigour and reasoned conduct. Some critics of B.C.'s aquaculture policies wonder why most government biologists focused on fish farming aren't subject to the college's scrutiny. Broughton Archipelago salmon researcher Alexandra Morton would go further, suggesting all biologists swear a professional oath to protect "crucial life systems."
A November 2006 organization chart for the Aquaculture Development Branch identifies eight staff members as biologists. They are Bill Heath, Clint Collins, Scott Pilcher, Gary Caine, Terry Nielsen, Shelee Hamilton, Marco Peemoeller and Sean Cheesman. All except for Collins are still listed with the branch in the government's telephone directory.
But none of their names appear in the membership list for the College of Applied Biologists.
"It was news to me that they weren't [members]," says George Butcher, a chair of a B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union local and a member of the union's environment committee. "It's surprising because there's been a move all across government to get all its biologists registered so the government can be sure they're following a code of ethics."
Membership not required
The B.C. Liberal government passed the legislation setting up the college in 2002. When introducing the bill for second reading, the Hansard says, then forestry minister Mike de Jong said the college was "charged with upholding and protecting the public interest." The college would ensure "the integrity, objectivity and expertise of its members," and would uphold "the highest principles of stewardship."
The college, according to its website, sets conduct and performance standards, holds members accountable and ensures competence. It has the power to conduct investigations and discipline members.
A senior biologist in the Aquaculture Development Branch, Gary Caine, says whether or not to become a member of the college is up to individuals. "There's no mandatory requirement to do so," he says. "It's voluntary and there's no requirement in our ministry." Caine was a founder of the Association of Professional Biologists of B.C., which existed before the college, but says he let his membership drop in 1998 and hasn't paid attention to the organization since.
'It surprised me'
While membership isn't mandatory for biologists in the Agriculture Ministry, the Environment Ministry, where Butcher works, went through an extensive process in 2005 and 2006 that looked at the job descriptions for some 450 people. Its December 2006 report found nearly 250 people in the ministry should register with the college.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, which includes people focused on fish and shellfish farms, should go through a similar process, Butcher says. "It surprised me that didn't occur in the Ministry of Agriculture."
A spokesperson for the ministry took questions, but did not provide any answers by deadline.
'Outside the rules'
Linda Michaluk is the executive director of both the College of Applied Biologists and the Association of Professional Biologists. Speaking on behalf of the association, she says that anytime a person's work includes applied biology, "We'd encourage membership in the college."
Michaluk was a member of the panel that assessed jobs in the Environment Ministry, but says she is not familiar enough with what the aquaculture staff do to offer an opinion on whether or not they should be members.
Researcher Alexandra Morton, director of the Salmon Coast Field Station in the Broughton Archipelago, is a member of the college. "For people who don't have a PhD, it's the next level of certification that you know what you're talking about," she says. "It really does monitor behaviour. I know they're monitoring mine all the time."
The college requires members to act in a professional way, she says. That means being polite, basing what you say on demonstrable facts and trying to keep emotion out of the discussion. For someone who is passionate about what they are doing, that can be hard. "In the heat of the moment a person can forget," she says. "You have to be careful you don't get carried away."
Asked what she thinks about the government not requiring its aquaculture specialists to join, she says, "The first thing that comes to mind is that's very odd, if they are biologists.... It's worrisome because it does put them outside the rules that most of us play by."
'We're done for'
"The qualifications are irrelevant if the quality of the work is good," says University of Victoria ecologist and salmon researcher John Volpe. Volpe is not a member of the college, but does have a PhD. "We all know the world is full of people with impressive qualifications on paper who choose not to pursue the best information."
The government's approach to salmon farming has long ignored the best science, he says. "The whole aquaculture issue is not one of science," he says. "It will be played out in the grocery aisles. As long as consumers demand fresh salmon year round at three bucks a pound, we're done for on the coast. To provide that product under those constraints requires the death of wild salmon."
There is consensus among scientists that salmon farming is a threat to wild salmon and the marine ecosystem, he says, but you'd never know it from how the industry is governed. "That consensus voice stands in clear contrast to the voice we hear coming from politicians and bureaucrats."
Despite promises, decisions would be based on sound science, that can prove inconvenient in practice, he adds. "It's difficult to push forward a political agenda if you are constrained by robust science. In fact, the conclusions often times are quite clear. The policy recommendations are self-evident." If, on the other hand, the science is "loosey goosey," he says, decision makers are left with more options.
Many of the industry's pitfalls were predicted long ago, Volpe says. Sea lice, algae blooms, escapees and the accumulation of toxins in the flesh of farmed fish were all expected. "It wasn't from experienced evidence," he says. "It was from basic, first-year ecology. We know if you do A and B you're going to get C. We've seen it in Europe and we're seeing it here."
Oath urged
Science is often abused in discussions of salmon farming, says Morton. For example, she says, someone will say a certain farm has "reduced" the number of sea lice on its fish. But reducing the number of lice doesn't eliminate the problem. "Instead of dying from nine lice [wild salmon] are dying because of one louse. Dead is dead," she says. "They know exactly what they are doing. They are confusing people."
Morton says she would like to see professional standards taken a step further, with professional biologists required to swear an oath, the same way engineers or doctors do. The oath, she says, would say that a biologist who sees a life system being dismantled will communicate it openly to the public. "Crucial life systems are in decay. The environment is not a luxury item."
Morton added, "The Canadian public is going to be so appalled when this is over."
When the B.C. Liberal government lifted the moratorium on new fish farms in 2002, then agriculture, food and fisheries minister John van Dongen said the decision was based on "the best available science."
In December, the journal Science published a paper by Canadian researchers finding that sea lice from fish farms are destroying runs of pink salmon along the B.C. coast, but earlier this month Agriculture and Lands Minister Pat Bell declared "the industry is safe" and complies with "the toughest standards in the world." The same day, media reported that farmed fish from Tofino had failed testing at the American border for traces of a potential carcinogen at times used to control disease on fish farms.
To avert the sea lice threat, a legislative committee dominated by opposition NDP MLAs eight months ago recommended open-net fish farming be replaced by closed pens. The government has yet to respond to the recommendation.
Related Tyee stories:
Farmed Controversy
Exploring the world of aquaculture and aboriginals on BC's coast.
Fish Farm Committee Nails It
Lice harm is real. But Campbell won't act.
Fish Farm Documents Show Politics Trump Science, Say Critics
Deleted facts flagged as 'Technically correct, but politically problematic.'
Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee's legislative bureau chief in Victoria.
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