Randy Baker, M.Sc., R.P.Bio. Partner
Randy Baker is an aquatic ecologist with more than 25 years of experience in conducting studies in support of environmental, ecological risk, environmental impact, and contaminated sites assessments. He has participated in more than 100 investigations in central and western Canada, South America, Southeast Asia, and throughout the Arctic. Randy has strong interdisciplinary skills in fisheries and aquatic science, with experience in most major primary industry sectors including mining, hydroelectric and power generation, fisheries and linear development. Randy also has particular expertise in mercury science, food web dynamics, remediation of mercury contaminated sites and artisanal (or small-scale) mining using mercury. His strength lies in his ability to integrate engineering and environmental concerns of development projects and design mitigation options to maximize environmental protection.
From 2005 to 2007 Randy was senior ecologist for the United Nations Industrial De-velopment Organization (UNIDO) Global Mercury Project (GMP) (www.globalmercuryproject.org). This project introduced strategies for reducing mercury loss to the environment and reducing mercury exposure to small-scale miners in artisanal gold mining operations. As well as providing general guidance to the GMP on ecological issues, Randy was responsible for project implementation and reporting in North Sulawesi, Indonesia and Lao PDR.
Randy has also published protocols for non-destructive sampling of fish for mercury analysis (Transactions American Fisheries Society, 2004). He pioneered this protocol in an attempt to reduce unnecessary mortality of fish for analysis of mercury concentration during routine investigations and to protect locally rare or endangered species. This protocol has since been recommended by Environment Canada as the preferred means of tissue collection in Canada’s Environmental Effects Monitoring (EEM) strategy for mines. Environment Canada’s guidance for the technique can be found at: www.ec.gc.ca/eem/pdf_publications/English/mm_fish_tissue.pdf.
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