In the News

May 9, 2007

Another successful year for the Lloyd Center
By DANIEL H. KING
CHRONICLE staff writer

NEW BEDFORD — The Lloyd Center for the Environment held its annual meeting on May 2nd from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. in the beautiful New Bedford Public Library. The Wednesday meeting was held in the main lecture hall on the third floor of the granite and marble building.

The first thirty minutes of the meeting was a gathering of associates, some reunions and refreshments under the historical art resting above the mosaic tile floor. Following the respite, the annual meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m.

The first notable order of business was the treasurer's report. Treasurer Robert A. MacGregor reported, in brief, that the Lloyd Center had a successful year in 2006 with an overall increase in their total assets.

Following the treasurer's report, Executive Director D'Arcy G. MacMahon issued his report. MacMahon began by stating, 2006 "has once again been an extraordinary year." His message continued with the exciting prospect of the Lloyd Center once again having the opportunity to do leverage; the chance to help people get interested in nature, and hence do great things in the future.

He also noted the Lloyd Center is ranked eighth of 277 national environmental nonprofit agencies by Charity Navigator, the nations largest independent charity evaluator.

Director MacMahon closed with special thanks to Sarah Van Vleck, Fern Allen, the rest of the staff, and the volunteers because they make the events work.

On the business end of the meeting, five directors were elected to the board, four were incumbents reelected, Jeffrey P. Gonsalves, Robert A. MacGregor, Linus Travers, and Randall T. Weeks, Jr., and one, Mary Mandeville, was newly elected.

The officers elected, who will serve from May 2007 to May 2008, remained the same: Mary Ellen Hawes Lees as president, Donald S. Douglas as vice-president, Leslie J. De Groot as clerk, and Robert A. MacGregor as treasurer.

An exciting moment was when the board of directors and officers presented the Haydock Award. The annual award is presented to a person who best exemplifies the spirit and tradition of nature enthusiast and Lloyd Center supporter, George G. Haydock. Haydock was also an outstanding contributor to the protection of our fragile coastline.

The 2006 Haydock award was presented to Kathleen Elizabeth 'Betty' Anderson. Ms. Anderson represents outstanding commitment to bird conservation, she served as the executive director of the Manomet Center where during her tenure many of the center's long-term studies were initiated. She also encouraged many youngsters' interests in nature and conservation, which led to their lifelong dedications to the environment.

Ms. Anderson replied in acknowledgement of her award," I am very honored to receive this award and very touched," As the award was a statue of a piping plover, Betty jokingly asserted, "Now I have my very own endangered species." Also, a commemorative plaque with the names of all the Haydock award winners will be hung in the Lloyd Center lobby.

The final agenda of the meeting was guest speaker Dr. Brian J. Rothschild. Dr. Rothschild is Chairman of Mayor Scott Lang's Ocean and Fisheries Council, and a noted national and international leader in fisheries science. The talk Rothschild gave was entitled "The Cod and the Canary," and dealt mostly with the significance of fluctuations in Northwestern Atlantic cod populations and the possibility that those changes could be signals of more paramount changes in oceanic structure.

Rothschild noted that fish stocks fluctuate naturally despite industrialized fishing levels, but certain environmental factors, such as salinity and ocean temperature, may have permanent effects on those fish stocks. He suggests the cod may be like the canary in that it's livelihood is demonstrative of changes in its own environment. As canaries would give notice of high levels of carbon monoxide in coal mines before they died, cod populations may give clues to the effects of changes in the ocean, particularly in polar ice melt which causes warm fresh water layers to rest atop the ocean, preventing the natural convection of oceanic layers.

The challenge, he iterated, was to separate the environmental problems from the natural fluxes in cod populations so that conclusions, and solutions, can be discovered.  

copyright Hathaway Publishing