Advisory Board Members

 

Dr. Petter Arnesen
Group Technical Breeding & Genetics Manager, Marine Harvest Group

Dr. Edgar Brun
Section Head (Epidemiology), Norwegian Veterinary Institute;
Co-Director, OIE Collaborating Centre: Epidemiology and Risk Assessment of Aquatic Animal Diseases

Mr. Glenn Cooke
CEO, Cooke Aquaculture Inc.

Dr. Brian Evans
Chief Veterinary Officer for Canada, Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Dr. Barry Hill
President, Aquatic Animal Health Commission, World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)

Dr. Siddika Mithani
Assistant Deputy Minister, Department of Oceans and Science, Canada

Mr. Colin MacDonald
President, Clearwater Seafoods Limited

Mr. Alastair O’Rielly
Deputy Minister, Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Government of Newfoundland & Labrador

Dr. Rohana Subasinghe
Senior Fishery Resource Officer, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

BIOGRAPHIES OF ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

Dr. Petter Arnesen,

Dr. Petter Arnessen has more than 20 years of experience with various sectors of the salmon industry. He gained a PhD degree in animal nutrition from the University of Life Sciences (UMB), Norway, in 1993. In February, 2011, he started in a newly established position as Group Technical Breeding & Genetics Manager of Marine Harvest Group where he develops business plans for Marine Harvest Global Breeding and Genetics activities. Previously, he was Vice President of Feed & Environment in Marine Harvest ASA and has maintained responsibility for several on-going sustainability processes.

He has worked as a Technical Director for Marine Harvest ASA, Vice President of Corporate Quality and Feed of Fjord Seafood ASA, Executive Director of BioMar, Chile, R&D Director of the BioMar Group, and also research scientist at AKVAFORSK (now Nofima Marine) in Norway.

Dr. Arnessen’s membership in various boards and committees is quite extensive. He sat on the Board of the European Aquaculture & Innovation Platform (EATIP), the Steering committee of the WWF initiated Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue, the Board of MareLife (Norwegian marine innovation network), the Advisory Group ISO TC234, and finally, the Technical committee of the International Fishmeal and Fish Oil Organisation’s Responsible Sourcing Standard.

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Dr. Edgar Brun

Dr. Brun has a veterinary degree from the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science in Oslo Norway. He has a Dr of Science, also from the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, on Animal Nutrition and Immunology. By 1994, he specialized in fish diseases working as a field fish health veterinarian for nine years. He began working as a researcher at the Norwegian Veterinary Institute, Section for Epidemiology in 1996 and achieved an MSc in Veterinary Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine/Royal Veterinary College, London, 2000-2001. He was approved PVS assessor by the OIE in 2009 (OIE Tool for the Evaluation of Performance of Veterinary Services) and, in 2010, became the founding Co-Director of the OIE Collaborating Centre in Epidemiology and Risk Assessment for Aquatic Animal Diseases in collaboration with the Atlantic Veterinary College.

The main focus of research in Norway is fish infections, such as PD, ISA, HSMI and CMS in salmonids. He is currently involved in two projects on PD (project leader of one), CMS (supervising a PhD student), HSMI (just completed) and ISA. In addition to research he takes part in advising the national Food Safety Authority on issues related to disease directives, risk profiling, surveillance and control.

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Mr. Glenn Cooke

Glenn Cooke was born and raised in Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick. In 1985, together with his father Gifford, and brother Michael, they started a new venture of raising farmed Atlantic salmon in the Bay of Fundy. Kelly Cove Salmon Ltd. (now a subsidiary of Cooke Aquaculture Inc.) began with one seawater site, two sea cages, 5,000 Atlantic salmon smolts and one employee. Today, with more than 2000 employees and operations in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Newfoundland and Maine that generate more than $450 million in sales, Glenn is CEO of the largest fully integrated and independent salmon farming company in North America. The company also owns Salmones Cupquelan in Chile, and through that investment, has been able to influence major restructuring in the Chilean salmon farming industry to reflect recently implemented Bay Management and biosecurity protocols in New Brunswick.

Glenn’s vision, entrepreneurship and business savvy have been recognized by the business community in Canada and overseas. In 2007 he was named Entrepreneur of the Year for Atlantic Canada and has been named as one of Atlantic Canada’s top 50 CEOs for several consecutive years. In February 2006, Cooke Aquaculture Inc. was first named as one of the 50 Best Managed Companies in Canada and has been renamed to that list for every year since.

A personal commitment to environmental sustainability has led the company to be the first in North America to achieve third party certification to the internationally recognized Seafood Trust Eco-label. This commitment goes hand in hand with a focus on innovation and numerous investments in science and research projects on topics such as DNA Traceability, Broodstock Development, Fish Health and Integrated Multi-trophic Aquaculture.

Glenn has always been a passionate advocate for a sustainable salmon farming industry that generates healthy food, healthy communities and healthy businesses. Glenn lives in Saint John with his wife, Pamela and two young children, Allison and William.

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Dr. Brian Evans

Dr. Brian Evans is a graduate of the University of Guelph where he obtained his BSc in Agriculture from the Ontario Agricultural College in 1974 and his DVM in 1978. He joined the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) at the time of its inception in April 1997. In 1999 he was named as Canada’s fourteenth Chief Veterinary Officer since Confederation in 1867. In June 2007 he was appointed by the Clerk of the Privy Council as Executive Vice President of the CFIA followed by a subsequent announcement in June 2010 as Canada’s first Chief Food Safety Officer. In addition, he is in his eleventh year as the delegate of the Government of Canada to the World Organisation for Animal Health, (OIE). He has served as the Secretary General for the OIE Regional Commission for the Americas from 2001 – 2003 and subsequently elected by the International Committee to the eight-member Administrative Commission of the OIE in 2003 representing the OIE Region for the Americas. He has subsequently been re-elected in 2006 and again in May 2009 for a further three year term.

Dr. Evans is a strong proponent of collaboration and partnerships as fundamental to the integrity of food security and animal, eco-system and veterinary public health programs at the national, hemispheric and international level. In addition, he is a strong advocate of developmental experiential opportunities for undergraduate veterinary students to fully appreciate the scope of veterinary medicine and its relevance to society and global security.

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Dr. Barry Hill

Until retirement in 2009, Dr. Barry Hill was the Chief Advisor for Aquatic Animal Health to the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). For almost 40 years, he played a lead role in advising the UK government on scientific aspects of new legislation and policy on fish and shellfish diseases and also provided expert advice to the European Commission on EU legislation on aquatic animal health.

Dr. Hill has been a member of the OIE Aquatic Animals Health Standards Commission since 1988, serving as Secretary General, Vice-President and (currently) as President. He has represented OIE at numerous scientific and technical meetings with other international organisations, particularly FAO and the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA), for the development and drafting of the FAO/NACA regional guidelines on the responsible movement of live aquatic animals in Asia-Pacific. He also provided expert advice and assistance to APEC/FAO in the development of harmonised standards for aquaculture health management for APEC countries of the Americas.
Until recently, Dr. Hill was responsible for leading the policy development and implementation aspects of the EU SEAT (Sustaining Ethical Aquaculture Trade) project in the four Asian partner countries (Bangladesh, China, Thailand and Vietnam).

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Mr. Colin MacDonald

Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Colin MacDoanld graduated from Dalhousie University in 1970 with a BSc and is the recipient of an honorary Doctorate of Laws degree from both Dalhousie University and UPEI. Colin is married to Carol Hansen-MacDonald and they have two sons, Nicholas 25 and Luke 23.

Colin is Chairman of Clearwater Seafoods Limited Partnership, as well as the co-owner and Chairman of Clearwater Fine Foods Inc., a company that he co-founded with John Risley in 1976.

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Dr. Siddika Mithani

Since 2007, Dr. Siddika Mithani has held the position of Associate ADM, Health Products and Food Branch at Health Canada. Over the years, she has acquired years of experience providing leadership and managing science, policy and regulatory initiatives at both the national and international levels. With at least 10 years of experience at Health Canada, she brings knowledge and expertise in the areas of safety, efficacy, quality and risk management principles in the health and industry sectors as well as risk management in complex regulatory science programs which balance the needs of both the Canadian public and the views of stakeholders.

Siddika is a recipient of the Queen’s Medal for her work in the area of developing and implementing regulations for clinical drug trials in Canada and has been extensively involved in difficult food and nutrition files.

Holding a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy and a Ph.D. in Psychopharmacology from the University of Aston in Birmingham, England, she maintains her practicing pharmacist license with the Ontario College of Pharmacists by being involved in pharmacy practice where feasible.

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Mr. Alastair O’Rielly

Alastair O’Rielly was appointed Deputy Minister with the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, in March 2006. Since then, he has been extensively involved in assisting the fishing industry through significant transformative change and has been closely involved in the dramatic growth of the salmon aquaculture industry in the province.

Earlier in his career, he served in management positions with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador in the Cabinet Secretariat and as Assistant Deputy Minister with the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture. Mr. O’Rielly moved to the private sector in 1989, assuming senior positions with Argosy Seafoods Limited and Clearwater Fine Foods, Inc.

He joined the Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation (CCFI) as Managing Director in 1993 and then as Chairman in 1998. During his term with the agency, Mr. O’Rielly built up its industrial clientele base and led a number of strategic initiatives. In 1997, he became the President of the Fisheries Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (FANL).

Alastair has served as a member of the Board of Directors of CCFI and the National Seafood Sector Council. He has also served as a member of the Fisheries Sectoral Advisory Group on International Trade (SAGIT), the Marine Institute’s Advisory Board, the Board of Directors of the Fisheries Council of Canada, the Board of One Ocean, and has been on the Board of Directors of several private firms. In addition, he is a Canadian delegate to the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO). Mr. O’Rielly completed a Bachelor of Commerce at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Dr. Rohana Subasinghe

Dr. Rohana Subasinghe is a Senior Aquaculture Officer of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Department of FAO. He is specialized in aquaculture, disease control and health management. He has worked in all parts of the world and is responsible for developing and implementing many projects on aquaculture and aquatic animal health at national, regional and international levels.

A former teacher of the University of Colombo and the Universiti Putra Malaysia, Rohana earned his BSc in Zoology from University of Colombo, MSc in Aquaculture from University of Plymouth and PhD in Aquatic Animal Health from University of Stirling.

Rohana has been responsible for bringing major policy changes in aquatic health management in relation to aquaculture at regional and global levels. Founder member of the Fish Health Section of the Asian Fisheries Society, Rohana currently serves as the Technical Secretary to the Sub-Committee on Aquaculture of the Committee on Fisheries of the FAO.

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