September 18, 2012 - St.Croix Courier - Letter to Editor TIme
is marching on for those who have received notices their jobs will be
cut at the St Andrews Biological Station. In our efforts to reverse
these cuts, Save Ocean Science members met with John Williamson who
indicated he believes the library holdings should stay in the
purpose-built facility here in St Andrews and not be moved to Halifax.
We have also asked him to help us set up a meeting with the Minister of
Fisheries and Oceans, the Honourable Keith Ashfield, as his office has
not responded to our requests.
The
library and its holdings are the foundation of fisheries research.
Many of these holdings are not available electronically. Many date
from the first years of the the Station which opened in 1908 and are
still referenced. Work is currently underway to pack up the library
holdings. We understand that the federal government is looking at
options to store these holdings in Halifax, either to build onto the
existing facility at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, or to rent
space, leaving a climate-controlled library facility empty. Everything
must be packed up and moved by March 31, 2013. Given this, we believe
there is some urgency to meeting with the Minister as soon as possible.
For
over 100 years SABS has made a crucial contribution to the health and
safety of the Bay of Fundy fishery. These latest cuts will threaten the
ability of the Station to continue this vital role. The unique library
and archive will be closed and the the toxicology and contaminants
section will be eliminated. This is in addition to the loss of capacity
represented by the fact that since 2007 6 scientists have not been
replaced following their retirements. In short, the scientific
capability of the Station is suffering from a slow but steady erosion
that will, ultimately, present an unacceptable risk to the future of a
safe fishery and aquaculture industry.
If, as Mr.Williamson claims, these cuts are about balancing the Federal
Budget, how does he explain that the newly opened (March 2012), $62M
purpose-built facility will not be fully utilized? How does moving the
unique collection and archives from its state of the art library to a
storage facility in Halifax make any fiscal sense?
The message that the grassroots, non-partisan Save Ocean Science group
has been trying to get through to Mr. Williamson and to Minister of
Fisheries Ashfield is that we are concerned about the negative impact of
these cuts on the scientific capacity of the Station and DFO and the
risk that these cuts present. Fishing and aquaculture are major
components of the Atlantic economy and independent science is vital to
their continued viability. If, because of these cuts, a pest or disease
threatens these industries, it will cost the Feds far more money than
they will have saved by these ill-considered reductions to SABS.
Caroline Davies Chair Save Ocean Science (SOS) sos.oceanscience@gmail.com
www.saveoceanscience.ca |
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