Iron fertilization project in Pacific known to government

Government bodies knew about a controversial experimental project in which 100 tonnes of adust-like material enriched with ironwas dumped into the ocean off B.C.'s north coast, the project's leader says.

John Disney, the president of the Haida Salmon Restoration Corp, which initiated the $2-million ocean fertilization project, told CBC News that various federal government departments were aware of his controversial plan.

In an interview with CBC Radio's As It Happens, Disney said he had been in touch with several federal departments and agencies, including Indian and Northern Affairs, about the plan.

"I don't know what happens within the federal government. All I am saying is everyone from the [Canada] Revenue Agency down to the National Research Council, and[the Department of Fisheries and Oceans] and Environment Canada, all these people, they have all known about this."

In a written statement, Environment Canada says it told the company that carried out the plan that ocean dumping was not allowed andthat it could be violating the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. The agency says itnever received an application for ocean fertilization.

Environment Canada is investigating.

The project, in which fine brown dirt-like material was dumped about 300 kilometres west of the islands of Haida Gwaii, was intended to raise nutrient levels offshore in hopes of reviving salmon populations, according to Disney.

Some condemnation

Earlier reports saidiron sulphate was used in the dump, but Disney said this was incorrect. He says a finely ground dirt-like substance with trace amounts of iron was actually used.

The project has stoked controversy and drawn condemnation from some in the scientific community.

The dumping created a bloom of phyto-planktonplants at the base of the food chain that are eaten by other creatures. But the bloomgrew to cover10,000 square kilometres and was visible from space.

Disneysays thebloom ate up carbon from the atmosphere and sequestered it in the ocean depths.

"What that does is create what's called a carbon offset credit, and that is a saleable commodity," Disney said. "We've determined that we can raise enough money to make this project sustainable and pay off the loan."

But Scott Wallace, a senior research scientist with the David Suzuki Foundation, says the projectwon'tbe able to make money from carbon credits because it was a type of rogue scientific experiment.

"This is money that's essentially been thrown down the drain in this case, thrown right into the Pacific Ocean with really no hopes of financial return from it."

He also questions the project's second claim, that it would increase plankton and other feed to boost salmon production in the North Pacific.

100 times larger

Maite Maldonado, a biological oceanographer at the University of B.C. who specializes in the impact of trace minerals on ocean life, told CBC News on Tuesdaythe projectcould actuallyresult inthe reverse of what wasintended.

The project is 100 times larger than any of the previous experiments in iron fertilization, she said.

"It scares me . We have to be very careful about doing this without having a full understanding of how the ecosystem as a whole is going to respond," Maldonado said.

The lack of oxygen could potentially create toxic, lifeless waters, she said.

• CBC Radio's Quirks and Quarks asks a scientist about iron fertilization of the oceans

But Disney saidthe project has received support from scientific organizations around the world, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the U.S.

"We've done so much science on this, that we've backed up all our theories. They're not theories anymore, they're fact," he said.

"We've got people all over, people in the Canary Islands, people [for] who this is their area of expertise, and they're all extremely excited ... because they've been waiting for a very, very long time for somebody to do this on a slightly larger scale."