Biologist

Degrees

Specialties

• Environmental assessment
• Environmental effects monitoring
• Offshore oil and gas
• Marine fish and invertebrates
• Marine habitat
• Effects of underwater sound on fish and invertebrates

Capsule Resume

John has been an aquatic biologist with LGL St. John's for fourteen years during which time he has conducted numerous studies for both government and industry. He has participated in numerous projects for petroleum industry clients, specializing on issues related to marine invertebrates and fish. John has contributed to the environmental assessments of numerous oil and gas activities off Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia. These contributions have focused mostly on marine fish and invertebrates. Activites have included seismic surveys, geohazard surveys, vertical seismic profiling, delineation and exploratory drilling, and production drilling for numerous oil and gas industry clients. From 1991 to 1997, John was project biologist/field leader for the marine environmental effects monitoring program conducted at Bull Arm, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland during the construction of the Hibernia gravity-based drilling/production platform. His responsibilities during this period included the collection of contaminant indicator data on sediments, mussels and flounder in Bull Arm, analysis and interpretation of data, and reporting of results. Mr. Christian was project biologist/field leader in a National Energy Board Environmental Studies Research Funds (ESRF) study designed to examine the effects of seismic energy on snow crab. It was the first study of its type in Canada. He was also involved in a recent Fisheries and Oceans Canada study of the effects of seismic on egg-carrying female snow crabs. He was an author of a review of the effects of underwater sound on marine invertebrates and fish for the American Petroleum Institute. Mr. Christian recently authored a report for Fisheries and Oceans that comprehensively reviewed the habitat requirements of marine invertebrates in the Northwest Atlantic, particularly those occurring in Newfoundland and Labrador waters. In addition to his marine experience, John has also conducted numerous freshwater projects which have included field data collection, data analyses and interpretation, and report production. As with the marine projects, the foci of these freshwater studies have been fish and invertebrate species.