By Robie Liscomb
UVic Archives has launched a new website providing access to UVic's valuable collections documenting research in marine environmental science at coastal and island sites subject to environmental stresses.
The UVic Marine Environmental Science Collections materials are of interest to environmental researchers and consultants, governments and regulatory agencies, citizen groups, students, and industry. They include more than 5 metres of shelved documents and over 5,000 photographs.
"This collection is of significant value to researchers internationally," says retired biology professor Dr. Derek Ellis. "It includes many rare and unique documents from government and industry in North America, the South Pacific, and Southeast Asia, that would otherwise be unobtainable. I know of no other similar website in this field."
The site (http:/uviclib.uvic.ca/archives/mesc/home.html) includes an introduction, catalogue and selected photographs.
The acquisition of the collections was initiated by Ellis, who donated the marine environmental science documents he gathered over a 45-year period. Throughout his career, Ellis was active in research on marine environmental impact and the recovery of marine ecosystems.
At present, the website includes, among other materials, descriptions of the collections (called "fonds") of Ellis and another retired UVic biology professor, Dr. Alan Austin. (The term "fonds" refers to all the documents, regardless of form or medium, that have been created, accumulated and used by an individual or organization in the course of their activities.) The Ellis and Austin fonds consist of letters, maps, photographs, research project files, and bibliographies.
Austin, a specialist in marine and freshwater algae, was involved in a substantial pre-utilisation survey of the seaweed along BC coastal waters. He produced detailed vegatation maps and his data were used by the BC Commercial Fisheries Branch (later the Ministry of the Environment) to assess the feasibility of commercially harvesting British Columbia's rich marine resources.
The collection also includes limited distribution documents difficult to access through other sources. These include rare materials pertaining to coastal and island mines (1954-1997), primarily government and industry documents from around the world, which were released to the public domain but in very small numbers. There are also materials on pulp and paper mills (1964-1989); mercury contamination, mostly the Minatamata, Japan catastrophe (1960-1993); and Victoria sewage (1962-1994). The Victoria sewage collection documents the original marine environmental monitoring of the effects of sewage discharged to the sea in the Victoria area.
In early 1998, material on tributyltin contamination (vessel anti-fouling paints), and West Coast and Arctic seabed biodiversity will be added and the mining section will be expanded. Plans also include providing document summaries and abstracts to help researchers identify documents relevant to their needs.
UVic Archives invites other marine scientists to donate documents and donors to fund the cataloguing necessary to develop the collections into a major marine environmental archive.
Researchers wishing to view a document catalogued on the website can visit the Archives in the McPherson Library, or request a photocopy by phone or email, for delivery by regular mail. Costs are 25 cents per page, plus a shipping and handling fee, which must be pre-paid before the request will be processed.
A grant of $20,000 from Placer Dome Inc. in Vancouver enabled the Archives to hire Nicole Skalinski, a UVic biology co-op student, to arrange the material and compile a catalogue of holdings, and Emyrs Miller, an internet designer, who designed the website.