History of Hatfield Consultants

Hatfield Consultants Ltd. was founded in February 1974 by fisheries biologist Chris Hatfield, in Deep Cove, on Vancouver's North Shore. In 1975, the company was selected as a Fisheries Advisor to the Canadian federal Berger Inquiry into Northern Pipeline Development, which led to numerous other projects, first in the Canadian Arctic, then across Canada, then internationally. The Hatfield team now includes approximately 70 people, encompassing a broad range of expertise and experience throughout the world.

In the 1980s, Hatfield used its fisheries expertise to expand into aquaculture development and management projects in Canada and overseas, particularly in South America where the company was instrumental in establishing the Chilean salmon aquaculture industry, working with our ongoing Chilean joint-venture partner, PUMA Ingeniería y Construcción. Increasing concerns regarding environmental effects of persistent pollutants from industrial discharges lead the company in the late 1980s and early 1990s to focus on aquatic environmental effects monitoring (EEM).

Hatfield's international activities continued to increase, particularly in Southeast Asia. Our Indonesian joint-venture office, PT Hatfield Indonesia, opened in Bogor, West Java in 1990, and now includes a staff of approximately 25, providing international-quality environmental studies to clients throughout Indonesia and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, particularly in the Greater Mekong subregion. In 1995, a second joint-venture company was established in Bangkok, Thailand with our Thai partner, Pro-En Technologies Ltd. Our Canadian expertise with trace contaminants and our regional experience in Southeast Asia lead us in the 1990s to studies of Agent-Orange-related dioxins in the Vietnamese environment.

Since the late 1990s, Hatfield has developed additional expertise in geomatics and environmental information technology, which we have applied throughout the world, from Canada to Asia, South America and Africa.

Since 2003, Hatfield has operated a second Canadian office in Fort McMurray, Alberta, where the company undertakes environmental monitoring in the oil sands region.

The company was restructured as a Partnership in 2006 to better accomodate growth opportunities and to ensure high quality service for clients.