Norval Collins founded CEF in 1983; he is a fisheries biologist and planner who has worked in environmental planning, impact assessment, environmental monitoring and risk analysis in Canada, the Caribbean and Central America for twenty-five years. He holds a B.Sc. in Ecology and Statistics, and a Masters of Urban and Rural Planning, as well as Honours Certification in Engineering and Aquatic Environments: Water and Fish Habitat Resources.
Norval has extensive experience in the assessment and monitoring of aquatic, marine, and fisheries resources, with particular emphasis on marine seismic surveys, and other aspects of offshore oil and gas exploration and development. He has worked on Scotian Shelf and Gulf of St. Lawrence offshore oil and gas exploration and development projects for Mobil, Shell, Texaco, Pan-Canadian, Corridor Resources, and SOE Inc.
On land, Norval has carried out impact assessments of mines, quarries, hydro-electric developments, highways, and other linear corridor projects. His professional planning experience ranges from socio-economic research on Nova Scotian fishing communities to redevelopment options for closed coal mines in Poland. He has designed many surveys for assessment of water quality, fish biomass, benthic habitat quality, and fish migration, using water samplers, commercial trawls, remote operated vehicles (ROVs), sonars or fish finders, gillnets, and bottom grabs.
Norval's freshwater experience includes mapping aquatic habitat, evaluating effects of flow changes and habitat alteration on aquatic habitat, estimating fish production and value, assessing herpetile and wetland habitat potential and value, and determining overall impacts on aquatic resources. He is an expert in fish passage issues at dams and through turbines, and developed a categorization procedure for evaluating stream-crossing impacts of gas pipelines.
Since 1997, Norval's project have included many biophysical impact assessments and environmental protection plans for seismic surveys and exploration wells on the Scotian Shelf. His assessment of a proposed Nova Scotian coal strip mine was followed by CEF's developing and implementing the effects monitoring program. Further afield, he worked in Poland, preparing brownfield reclamation plans for former coal mining areas, with particular emphasis on air quality and greenhouse gas emissions.
Norval was project manager for the biophysical impact assessment for the Sable Offshore Energy Project, the development of six offshore gas production wells in water depths from 20 to 90 m, construction of a 100 km marine pipeline and onshore gas plant, and a 50 km liquids line. In 1998 and 1999, he designed and managed the biological portions of the associated nearshore construction effects monitoring program; CEF is carrying out post-construction environmental monitoring in 2000 and beyond.
His experience in effects monitoring also includes the 1997 Middle Shoal dredging project at the entrance to the Bras d'Or Lakes. CEF conducted the fisheries impact assessment, including describing commercial and recreation fisheries, assessing habitat quality, and proposing options for creating new habitat, and carried out an extensive effects program.
Norval is an active volunteer in the Atlantic Planners Institute and the Canadian Institute of Planners, the Canadian Society of Environmental Biologists, Solar Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Environmental Industries Association. Prior to establishing CEF Consultants, he worked as a senior biologist with Montreal Engineering Company.
Email Norval at ncollins@cefconsultants.ns.ca
