Conference Speakers

[Keynote Speaker] [Opening Remarks] [Panelists]

Keynote speaker

Talk topic B.C. Ocean Products for the Next Century

Russell Wills

President, Cognetics International Research, Inc. a Vancouver-based economic consultancy. He is currently directing a team to research and draft national bioprospecting legislation in Laos and Vietnam. He is also co-director, with Richard Lipsey, of a Forest Renewal B.C. project to formulate an economic strategy supporting the development of non-timber forest products in B.C., including tax and fiscal incentives and programs, technology sourcing measures, legislative analysis pertaining to First Nations property rights to faunal and floral knowledge, and a commercial framework for exploitation. He has conducted economic research projects throughout the Asia-Pacific region for the World Bank, UNAID, CIDA, IDRC, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, national and regional governments and the private sector.

e-mail : rmw@idmail.com

John Madden is Chairman and Founder of the Canadian Ocean Frontiers Research Initiative, and President of STC Enterprises Inc., a research and development management consulting company. He serves as the Executive Director of the Canadian Cable Labs Fund, and as the Chairman of Ward Laboratories Inc. He is a member of the Research Council of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and serves on the Board of the Telelearning Network of Centres of Excellence. Madden has a B.A. and an M.Sc. from UBC and a D. Phil. in Nuclear Physics from Oxford University.

e-mail : jmadden@rci.rogers.com

Paul H. LeBlond

President, The COFRI Foundation.

Before joining the COFRI Foundation, Dr. LeBlond was a professor of oceanography at the Universityof British Columbia, where he taught for over thirty years and researched waves, tides, currents and their effect on fisheries. He has participated in studies on marine weather services, lighthouses, sockeye fisheries and is a scientific advisor Fisheries and Oceans Canada. He is also a member of the Royal Society of Canada and a founder of the B.C Scientific Cryptozoology Club.

e-mail : leblond@gulfislands.com

Stephen F. Cross

President, AQUAMETRIX Research Ltd.
AQUAMETRIX is a private sector firm specializing in aquaculture research and development and marine environmental impact assessment. The firm serves government and industry domestically and internationally within the aquaculture field. AQUAMETRIX has been involved with the majority of environmental impact assessment studies of marine netcage culture in British Columbia. Over the past 11 years it has monitored environmental conditions at more than 40 farm sites on this coast, and continues to assess site-specific farm impacts, and oceanographic site characteristics from a production and environmental perspective. AQUAMETRIX also assists the finfish and shellfish industries through research in management and husbandry, training, environmental compliance monitoring, business planning, feasibility studies, appraisal of aquaculture for new species.

Jim Dietrich

Offshore oil and gas potential, Hecate Strait-Queen Charlotte Sound region

Jim Dietrich

Petroleum Geologist (B.Sc.), Regional Geoscience Subdivison, Geological Survey of Canada, Calgary. Research areas include sedimentary basin analysis and petroleum resource assessments, western and northern Canada. Participated in multi-year study on petroleum geology/resource potential of west coast basins. Currently working on regional studies of Williston Basin, Saskatchewan/Manitoba.

e-mail : jdietrich@gsc.nrcan.gc.ca

Keith Draper

Director General, Western Economic Diversification Canada
Keith Draper is an economist, educated at the University of Western Ontario. Born and raised in Ontario, he subsequently woked in both Atlantic and Western Canada. He has extensive experience in economic development at both federal and provincial levels He is married with three children and is presently Director General, Program Development and Strategic Services with Western Economic Diversification, B.C., where his responsibilities include policy and planning, as well as delivery of federal programs in British Columbia.

Louis D. Druehl

New Economic Seaweed Opportunities for British Columbians.

Louis D. Druehl

Professor of marine botany, SFU and President of Canadian Kelp Resources Ltd. He has published extensively on the basic and applied biology of kelp. He established the first kelp farm outside of Asia and presently works with coastal residents in establishing kelp operations for HROK and sea urchin rearing.

e-mail : ldruehl@mail.island.net

Marcel Gijssen

Weighing In: The Benefits of Salmon Farming for B.C.'s Coastal Communities.

Marcel Gijssen

Alberni/Clayoquot Representative, B.C. Salmon Farmers Association
Marcel Gijssen obtained a degree in Marine Biology from the University of Victoria in 1989. He worked as an independent consultant in Victoria and Ottawa before moving to Prince Rupert to assume the roles of Manager and Biologist for the Tsimshian Tribal Council's Fisheries Program. During his time on the North Coast, Mr. Gijssen was a member of the UNBC Marine Institute Steering Committee, and a Director of Lax Kw'alaams Marine Industries. He later moved to Tofino to work as the Managing Director of the Clayoquot Sound Aquaculture Association, and he is currently the Alberni/Clayoquot Representative for the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association. Mr. Gijssen is also the Past-President of the Tofino-Long Beach Chamber of Commerce,

Don Howes

Manager of Land Inventory and Analysis, Land Use Coordination Office, Province of British Columbia.
Howes is a member of the British Columbia Professional Engineers and Geoscientists and has managed a variety of land and resource projects related to coastal resource management, resource inventory and the development of a coastal resource information management system for oil spill response and planning, coastal zone planning, and resource management and allocation. His current interests include coastal and land use planning, the design of resource models for planning and conservation, terrain and slope stability analysis, and research related to developing new techniques and technologies for terrestrial and coastalresource inventories. He also has a background of terrain analysis and Quaternary geological research.

e-mail : Don.Howes@gems7.gov.bc.ca

Greg Meredith

Meredith & Associates:
Greg Meredith has been active in tourism research, planning, development, marketing, implementation and advocacy for more than twenty-five years. He has years of hands-on tourism and hospitality experience, a Bachelors degree in Outdoor Recreation Planning and a Master of Science in Natural Resource Management with a major in Tourism Planning and Research (UBC 1992), and an executive level certificate in tourism planning and management (SFU 1987). Meredith & Associates (International provides a range of senior tourism planning services to governments in developing countries, primarily in the Caribbean region. Greg spent three years working offshore with the ARA Consulting Group. Immediately prior to establishing Meredith & Associates, Greg spent seven years as Executive Director of the North By Northwest Tourism Association of B.C., an association of about 300 private sector tourism operations. During his tenure there he helped plan, develop and facilitate. the Sustainable Development Branch within the BC Ministry of Tourism, the Tourism Resource Council of British Columbia, the Council of Tourism Associations of British Columbia (COTA), and the Council of Regional Tourism Associations of British Columbia (CORTA).

Jim Reichert Ph.D., P. Eng.

President, Science Council of British Columbia
Dr. Jim Reichert is a professional engineer and a graduate of the University of Manitoba (1977). His post-graduate studies were in Mechanical Engineering. He has been involved in science and technology policy and economic development in Canada since the early 1980s. As President of the Science Council of British Columbia, Jim has the lead responsibility for the Council's science and technology activities and operations. His role is to help Science Council promote economic development through innovative applications of science and technology. This includes support for the Council's Board and its activities, management of the Council's programs, and development of initiatives to grow key technology-based sectors in the province. Prior to his appointment in 1995, he was the Vice-President of Manitoba's Economic Innovation and Technology Council (EITC), and advisory body to the Manitoba government. Prior to that he headed the Manitoba Research Council and its technical laboratories and served as the Executive Director of the Industrial Technology Branch in Manitoba's Industry Trade and Technology department. Dr Reichert spent several years as a Research Scientist with the Department of National Defence at the Defence and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine in Toronto.