Women in Aquaculture – Part Three

Elizabeth Barlow is very passionate about the continuing growth of the aquaculture industry in the Coast of Bays.

Barlow, originally from Cape Breton, is the provincial Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture’s (DFA) Regional Aquaculture Manager in the Coast of Bays and, as such, directs the department’s activities in the area.

Barlow’s venture in the Newfoundland aquaculture industry began all the way back in 1989 when she graduated from Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia with a Bachelor of Science and Biology degree.

Knowing she wanted to work in an industry that helped provide the basics of human life such as food, she decided to attend a lecture given in Halifax by a Newfoundland student from the Marine Institute. The student was speaking on the province’s growing aquaculture industry, and at least one person in the audience was listening very carefully.

The lecture changed the direction of Barlow’s life as she realized her calling was to work in aquaculture. She enrolled in the Marine Institute (MI) and graduated from the institution in 1992 with a Graduate Degree in Aquaculture.

She wanted to work with aquaculture in the international community so her work term with the MI found her working on a giant clam farm in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific. She soon realized that shellfish farming was not for her, and after several bouts with malaria she was on her way back to Newfoundland.

Barlow said, “ I realized that fin fish are a lot more exciting than shell fish, and I wanted to get back to Newfoundland. The Solomon Islands and the giant clams were not for me.”

After teaching cod aquaculture courses for the MI on Fogo Island which ended in 1993, she was invited to visit a friend who was living in St. Alban’s. Having nothing to lose and never having seen that part of the province she decided to take her friend up on her offer.

This was another decision that was about to change her life.

“The aquaculture industry in the Coast of Bays was starting to expand at that time, and there was a lot of interest from governments and from agencies such as ACOA.

“St. Alban’s was an exciting place to be. There was a lot of science going on in conjunction with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). There were many people coming and going with various research projects. There were a lot of young people around, and I could feel the excitement all around me.”

Barlow got involved in teaching some training courses in the area and later, in conjunction with a company called Aquatic Resources, she stated managing a small farm site. In addition, she became involved with manufacturing net cages so she was working in both fields at the same time.

For the next six years she worked directly in the aquaculture industry.

“In that time period I did everything from diving on the cages, feeding the fish, writing financial statements, ordering feed to hirings and firings and everything in between.

“I was also president of the Newfoundland Salmon Growers’ Association for two years in that time period. In my role as president we secured some funding to conduct several major studies, one of which was an over-wintering study relayed to the aquaculture.”

In the late 1990s, however, the aquaculture industry was having some health and financial issues. It seemed to be falling out of favour with different organizations so Barlow ended up leaving her job.

And then in 1999 provincial DFA officials were looking for a salmon aquaculturist to direct their activities in the Coast of Bays. Barlow fit the bill perfectly; she applied for the job, was successful and has been working with DFA since 1999.

“I had been working with the industry directly and with the support side of things so I thought I’d try something different.”

While her job may be ‘different’ it has been, and remains, very important to the aquaculture industry in the COB.

“I have four staff members here with me at this new centre in St. Alban’s – a salmonid aquaculturist, an aquaculture development officer, an aquaculture technician and a clerk-typist – all of whom are very important to me and the DFA.

“I help my staff coordinate their duties and activities, we do a lot of receiving of proposals and assessments and basically direct the activities of the DFA in this area.”

Although she is not directly involved in helping fish grow bigger and stronger today, Barlow played a key role in the growth of aquaculture in the area.

In her role as salmon aquaculturist and then subsequently as the regional manager she had an instrumental part in attracting the big aquaculture players such as Cooke Aquaculture, Northern Harvest Sea Farms and Gray Aquaculture to the Coast of Bays.

“I worked with officials from these companies and helped them find farm sites in this area. I taught them about the area and introduced them to the people they needed to have contact with to establish their operations down her. Of course, I also informed them about government requirements and regulations about establishing aquaculture sites in Newfoundland.”

Barlow said that the future looks great for the aquaculture industry in the province.

“One of the original things that attracted me to this industry is that its sustainable – this is something we can do and keep on doing.

“We’re not taking resources out of the ocean, we’re putting resources in the ocean. Because of the type of industry it is we have to be very conscious of how we manage it and the environment around it.

“We want to be here for many years to come, and we can be if we manage this properly. It gives me a great satisfaction to see the many young families in this area now and in knowing that this industry is providing economic opportunities and benefits to the whole region.”