Qualifications of wind opponent questioned

In the wind turbine controversy, retired Department of Environmental Conservation fishery biologist Clifford Schneider has interjected his scientific prowess into the areas of sound and property values and suggested that wind energy developers have misled the public.

At a 1993 DEC public meeting aimed at describing its proposal to reduce salmonid stocking in Lake Ontario to avoid jeopardizing the salmon fishery, he also implied that I, a retired DEC fishery biologist, was not technically capable of challenging DEC's evidence base.

I now propose that those instances make it appropriate to examine his scientific capabilities, and following are some incidents in which he was a principal person that in my view reflect on competency and integrity. Most of this can be substantiated in credible documents.

1. Mid-1970s: In a field study, survival of Lake Ontario brown trout from age 2 to 3 was overestimated by 400 percent by neglecting a vital element of the method.

2. 1979 to 1981: Mr. Schneider defied urgent warnings and directed the removal of a mouthpart on a major stocking of lake trout to mark them for identification. Subsequent surveys indicated that some 50 percent to 75 percent of those fish perished as a result of that mouthpart removal. To my knowledge, that result was not vigorously reported.

3. 1986-plus: After a very restrictive sport fishery regulation had been prematurely directed, evidence emerged indicating that mortality in lake trout caused by sea lampreys was the main problem, and the fishing restriction was unnecessary. However, the new regulation was left in place and continued to unjustly penalize the sport fishery for 20- plus years.

In addition, important evidence regarding mortality caused by fishing versus sea lamprey predation was effectively withheld from fishery science and the public.

4. Following the 1993 interchange noted above (space does not allow a coherent description of the full ramifications here), DEC did execute a 63 percent reduction in stocking of the premier species — chinook salmon — which simple arithmetic indicates would reduce the population about the same amount that DEC said exotic alewife collapse could (maybe) cause.

That was then followed by a 70 percent decline in boat fishing for trout and salmon west of Stony/Galloo Islands with devastating economic impacts.

Taken together, this picture seems consistent with a tendency to demonize sport fishing like Mr. Schneider is doing now to modern wind energy.

Given DEC's endorsement of most of the above episodes, I expect many present and past DEC persons would resist suggestions of impropriety.

Thomas Jolliff

Cape Vincent