Canada\u2019s biggest taxonomy lab to call Esquimalt home<\/p>\n
Published 5:30 pm Friday, August 7, 2026<\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s biggest taxonomy lab, rooted in Victoria, supporting environmental monitoring programs across the country for decades, is moving to Esquimalt.<\/p>\n
Biologica Environmental Services Ltd., established in 1994 as a specialized aquatic environmental laboratory, currently houses 34 scientists, technicians, taxonomists, and support staff in 488F Bay Street.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Victoria News, president Tara Macdonald said that they chose to move to Esquimalt because they think it is an operational fit, is a more transit-accessible location with cycling infrastructure, and most prominently, is a natural fit, given that it is located within Esquimalt\u2019s marine community.<\/p>\n
The move was mainly triggered by a need for industrial zoning and a lot of office space, as well as a lab.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m realizing what a vibrant community it [Esquimalt] is\u2026So, I\u2019m kind of looking forward to that part of it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Their primary service is to receive samples from aquatic habitats that are being monitored, and to identify and count the critters such as worms, clams, insects or other species.<\/p>\n
The service is helpful for industries that are putting effluent into the water, such as mining, oil and gas, municipal water quality monitoring, pulp and paper, and aquaculture.<\/p>\n
They look for algae, zooplankton, invertebrates, and sediment-dwelling invertebrates in freshwater and marine habitats. They are a full-service laboratory for taxonomy, where they have expertise in aquatic habitats across marine, freshwater and estuarine systems.<\/p>\n
The company extends support to projects including environmental impact assessments, environmental risk assessments, aquatic effects monitoring programs, and ambient monitoring programs.<\/p>\n
Their strength is their knowledge in a lot of different services, which makes them strong across the board, Macdonald said.<\/p>\n
Speaking of why the company is prominent among those providing similar services in Canada, she said that the rare expertise makes them stand out.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo become a person who\u2019s really skilled at identifying a certain group of invertebrates or algae or zooplankton takes many years\u2026They\u2019re kind of experts in that work alone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what distinguishes us is we\u2019re really a collection of these experts.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s biggest taxonomy lab to call Esquimalt home Published 5:30 pm Friday, August 7, 2026 Canada\u2019s biggest taxonomy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":850185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-850184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=850184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/850185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}