Expert Details
Water Pollution, Fish Kills, EIAs and Ecological Surveys of Rivers, Estuaries and Coastal Waters
ID: 730886
United Kingdom
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and production of Environmental Statements form a large part of his workload, including impacts of offshore wind farms, dredging, port, harbor and marina development, sewage discharges and drilling for crude oil.
He is a Chartered Chemist (CChem) and can advise on environmental sampling and monitoring methods for a wide range of aquatic chemicals including metals, hydrocarbons, Dissolved Oxygen, BOD and COD.
Expert has investigated many different pollution incidents, for example, cationic polymer flocculants, sewage, oil, TBT, sodium hydroxide, aluminum, sugar and mercury. He can advise on impacts of pollution and engineering works on water quality, invertebrates and fish. Environmental forensics is a relatively new area of work, but includes such disparate areas as ageing the amount of time a skull has spent in the sea, assessing contaminants in tuna, identifying barnacles from a ship hull, and environmental site assessment to check site drainage.
He is familiar with UK and European laws relating to water pollution, water quality, protection of aquatic resources and freshwater and marine ecosystems.
He is currently advising on the impacts of a major dredging scheme on the health and quality of cockles in the estuary. This work is carried out on behalf of a consortium of cockle fishermen.Consultant has advised a composting company that was accused of water pollution. The Environment Agency dropped the water pollution charges as a result of his site investigations and report.Consultant has recently advised a major UK company that has been accused of causing a major fish kill. He investigated whether natural cycles in dissolved oxygen could have caused the fish kill. The Environment Agency dropped charges relating to the fish kill as a result of his inputs.Consultant has investigated the source of off flavors in a large consignment of tuna being processed in Thailand.Consultant has provided advice to a UK police force on the length of time a skull had been in the sea. This was done by back-calculating settlement times of marine organisms (tube worms and barnacles) from knowledge of their growth rates.
Education
| Year | Degree | Subject | Institution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year: 1982 | Degree: PhD | Subject: Zoology | Institution: University of Hull, UK |
| Year: 1978 | Degree: BSc | Subject: Chemistry and Environmental Science | Institution: UWIST (University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology), Cardiff, UK |
Work History
| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years: 2000 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: Director | Department: NA |
Responsibilities:He is a director and responsible for all work within his areas of expertise. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1982 to 1999 | Employer: Aquatic Environmental Consultants | Title: Principal | Department: NA |
Responsibilities:He set up Aquatic Environmental Consultants (AEC) in January 1982 and was responsible for all environmental work carried out by AEC. |
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Government Experience
| Years | Agency | Role | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years: 1987 to 1988 | Agency: Hong Kong Environmental Protection Agency | Role: Marine biologist | Description: The expert undertook two short-term placements in Hong Kong, advising the government agency on monitoring of offshore disposal of sewage sludge. |
| Years: 1987 to 1987 | Agency: Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, Sultanate of Oman | Role: EIA specialist | Description: Advised the Omani government and developers on work necessary to assess the environmental impacts of onshore and offshore developments. |
International Experience
| Years | Country / Region | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Years: 1987 to 1988 | Country / Region: Sultanate of Oman | Summary: He provided advice on Environmental Impact Assessment to the Ministry of Environmnet and Water Resources in Muscat, Oman. |
| Years: 1987 to 1988 | Country / Region: Hong Kong | Summary: He was co-leader of baseline surveys of an offshore sewage sludge disposal ground. He provided expert advice to the Hong Kong EPA. He was responsible for all aspects relating to benthic ecology, fish and contamination of fish. The work was in two discrete periods within the dates shown above. |
| Years: 1991 to 1991 | Country / Region: India | Summary: He carried out an EIA of a dam supplying water to a zinc smelter in Rajasthan, India. The final client was the UK Overseas Development Agency (ODA). |
| Years: 1997 to 1998 | Country / Region: Egypt | Summary: He worked on a World Bank project based in Cairo. The aim of the project was to provide additional protection to the aquatic resources of the Red Sea. |
| Years: 2010 to 2010 | Country / Region: Trinidad | Summary: He visited Trinidad twice in 2010 to assist a local benthic laboratory with various aspects of survey design, identification of specimens and statistical analysis. |
Career Accomplishments
| Associations / Societies |
|---|
| Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Marine Biological Association (MBA) Estuarine and Coastal Sciences Association (ECSA) Freshwater Biological Association (FBA) Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) |
| Licenses / Certifications |
|---|
| Chartered Chemist (CChem) Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) Member of the Royal Socoety of Chemistry (MRSC) |
| Publications and Patents Summary |
|---|
| Expert publishes approximately one paper per year, on topics ranging from new records of non-native species to the impacts of oil pollution on rivers. |
Additional Experience
| Expert Witness Experience |
|---|
| He provides Expert Advice and Expert Witness inputs to people and organisations that have either suffered from water pollution or companies that have been accused of water pollution. In some cases the defendant already knows they wish to plead guilty and his inputs provide evidence in mitigation regarding the severity and duration of the pollution. On other occasions the defendant is unsure whether they caused the pollution, and he examines the evidence to help them decide what to plead. On three occasions charges have been dropped by the plaintiff as a result of his investigations. He also provides expert inputs in insurance cases that involve either water pollution or contamination of aquatic foodstuffs (e.g. fish and shellfish). |
| Training / Seminars |
|---|
| Expert has delivered two one day training sessions on Environmental Impact Assessment. |
Language Skills
| Language | Proficiency |
|---|---|
| French | Expert has worked in French during a contract In Madagascar. He can read scientific papers and reports in French, but is not fluent. |
Fields of Expertise
annelid, aquatic biology, aquatic chemistry, aquatic ecosystem, aquatic ecosystem assessment, benthic invertebrate studies, crude oil environmental effect, dissolved oxygen, environment-related assessment, environmental forensics, environmental impact, environmental impact assessment, environmental impact statement, environmental investigation, environmental sampling, environmental site assessment, estuarine ecosystem assessment, European environmental regulation, fish pollutant, freshwater ecosystem, marine ecology, water pollution assessment, water quality, water-quality assessment, estuarine ecosystem, marine pollution, acid mine water, beach environmental impact, coastal-zone environmental impact, ecological risk assessment, ecology, fish kill, environmental monitoring, habitat evaluation, heavy metal, heavy metal environmental effect, industrial development environmental impact, marine biology, marine habitat mapping, oil production environmental impact, wildlife, coastal wetland, marina, marine surveyor, forensic microscopy, environmental statistics, marine research, ocean mining, hydrozoan, heavy metal chemistry, trace metal, oil environmental contamination process, fish, aquatic environmental toxicity, pollution removal, environmental water sample, malacology, mollusk, freshwater shrimp, crustacean, environmental data, environmental science, brine disposal, conservation biology, biochemical oxygen demand, freshwater fish, environmental management, organotin compound, environmental protection, water analysis, chemical element, sediment material characterization, dredge material characterization, water quality assessment statute, beach, real estate development environmental impact, shellfish organism, mining effluent, habitat, environment, ocean, ecosystem, wastewater, invertebrate, polymer flocculant, water pollutant, chemical compound, environmental effect, organic compound, zinc environmental effect, tin environmental effect, silver environmental effect, seafood, river, pipeline environmental impact, oceanic ecosystem assessment, mercury environmental effect, marine fish, lead, iron environmental effect, fouling, food web studies, fish studies, environmental risk assessment, environmental chemistry, effluent monitoring, chromium environmental effect, chemistry, biology, arsenic environmental effect, arsenic, aluminum environmental effect, acid