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Jan Buermans
President & CEO

Jan has 37 years of experience in the Business Development, Project management, Business Management and Mechanical Engineering fields. Jan joined ASL in 2002 and took on leadership role in the development of ASL’s flagship product - the Acoustic Zooplankton and Fish Profiler (AZFP).
As of July 2022, Jan assumed the role of President & CEO of ASL Environmental Sciences Inc. I have been and continue to work in support of Our Vision and Our Mission:

Our Vision

ASL Environmental Sciences is a global leader in innovative and sustainable science-based solutions for
our environment.

Our Mission

To assist clients around the world to understand and solve challenges in the aquatic and terrestrial
environments by providing reliable information through world-class technologies and consulting
services.

Kaan Ersahin
Vice President

Dr. Kaan Ersahin is a Remote Sensing Scientist and Project Manager with over 25 years of experience using remote sensing technology in operations, research, and consulting. He holds B.Sc. (1999) and M.Sc. (2001) Degrees in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, where he studied remote sensing image processing. He led the operations at a satellite ground receiving station acquiring and processing data, serving operational users worldwide. He then completed his Ph.D. (2009) on SAR image segmentation and classification at the University of British Columbia. Since 2010, he has been in technical lead roles for R&D and operational monitoring projects involving radar, multispectral, hyperspectral, and thermal IR data from airborne and spaceborne sensors. He is currently leading the remote sensing team and has experience managing projects with a range of schedules, budgets and scope including applications in forestry, ecology, biology, geology, and defence. Kaan enjoys hiking, camping, playing tennis, and skiing with his two sons.

Keath Borg
Director, Consulting & Senior Physical Oceanographer

Keath started at ASL as a data analyst and has since taken on other roles including field work, Ice Profiling Sonar Product Manager and consulting project management. Projects have ranged from Arctic Sea-Ice studies to coastal wave and current studies off west-Africa. Keath completed a Master of Science in Physical oceanography at Dalhousie. Keath in particular enjoys working with the strong team at ASL and helping that team to find solutions for clients with problems in the aquatic environment.

Matthew Asplin
Director, Metocean and Arctic Strategic Partnerships

Dr. Matthew Asplin is a Metocean and Arctic scientist at ASL Environmental Sciences Inc. in Victoria, B.C. with professional interests in marine renewable energy, Arctic science, and metocean services. He completed a B.Sc. in Physical Geography and Spatial Information Systems at Simon Fraser University, an M.Sc. in Synoptic Climatology at the University of British Columbia, and a Ph.D in Arctic Sea Ice Geophysics at the University of Manitoba. Matthew began his career at ASL as an NSERC Industrial Postdoctoral fellow, before transitioning into his present-day position at ASL, where he handles senior management duties, such as strategic planning, marketing, strategic partnership-building, and business development. He is also the Chair of the Vancouver Island CMOS Centre, and an Adjunct Professor in the Geography department at the University of Victoria, and a Marine Renewables Canada Board Member. Matthew enjoys outdoor activities such as camping and hiking with his wife, three sons, and Bernese Mountain Dog Griffin.

David Fissel
Co-Founder and Senior Oceanographer

David Fissel is a semi-retired physical oceanographer at ASL Environmental Sciences Inc. in Victoria BC. He completed his M.Sc. at the Institute of Oceanography of the University of BC in 1975 and his contributions to Canadian Arctic Sciences and sea-ice instrumentation development were recognized with his designation in 2022 as a Fellow of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society. Until 2019, David held many leadership and management positions within ASL since its inception in 1977, including founding the Product Division of ASL in 1995. He has directed several hundred oceanographic studies in all oceanic areas of Canada as well as in other parts of the world. David has served on many Boards of university-based and non-profit organizations since the 1990’s, as well as on government advisory committees. He and Bernadette are actively engaged with their four grown-up children and their grandchildren.

Julek Chawarski
Biological Oceanographer

Dr. Julek Chawarski is a Biological Oceanographer and Fisheries Scientist at ASL Environmental Sciences and is based at the Bamfield Marine Science Centre in Bamfield, B.C. His professional interests include hydroacoustics, pelagic ecosystems, sustainable fisheries, Arctic science, and ocean technology. He completed a B.Sc. in Biological Sciences at George Washington University, an M.Sc. in Marine Biology at the University of Maine, and a Ph.D. in Fisheries Science at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Julek is ASL’s Subject-Matter-Expert in Biological Oceanography and supports our team through scientific consulting, research, strategic planning, and business development. In his free time, he enjoys exploring the hidden coasts and rainforests of British Columbia.

Steve Pearce
Acoustics Scientist & AZFP Product Manager

Dr. Steve Pearce works in ASL’s Products Division where he manages AZFP-related R&D and custom acoustical instrumentation projects. Steve completed a B.S. in Physics at Washington State University, and worked in nuclear physics and radiation detection before pursuing further education in underwater acoustics. He completed his M.A.Sc. in Engineering Science at Simon Fraser University with a focus on Doppler sonar signal processing. He later completed his Ph.D. in Engineering Science at Simon Fraser University, focusing on the suppression of multipath interference via beamforming in the context of a multi-angle swath bathymetry sidescan sonar. When he isn’t R&D’ing, Steve helps with ASL’s business development and marketing activities. In his free time he enjoys exploring the outdoors, backpacking, sailing, and getting attacked by his cat Maeve.

Rick Birch
Senior Oceanographer & Manager of Equipment and Field Operations

Rick is a Senior Oceanographer at ASL with over 40 years’ experience. He has a Bachelor of Engineering degree from McGill University, and an MSc in Physical Oceanography from Dalhousie University. Rick manages both the Equipment Leasing and the Field Services Group.
ASL operates the largest pool of metocean leased equipment in Canada. The equipment is used for internal projects, and is also available for lease to third parties.
The Field Services Group supports ASL projects, and their services are also often contracted out to other companies. We deploy, and recover, moorings in oceans worldwide, as well as in rivers and lakes. We have an experienced and well-trained group of field personnel and we are extremely proud of our high equipment recovery rates.

James Bartlett
Oceanographic Services Scientist and Product Sales Representative

Since 2011, James Bartlett has worn many hats at ASL Environmental Sciences. Initially starting as a field and equipment service technician, James soon advanced to become one of ASL’s lead field scientists. With experience in a wide variety of oceanographic sensors and equipment James is now applying this knowledge to solving our client’s most challenging measurement problems. James is now the primary sales contact for ASL’s ice profiling products and represents our third-party product partners.

Dr. Gary Borstad
Senior Remote Sensing Scientist

Educated at the Universities of Alberta, Paris (France) and McGill, Gary has been active in remote sensing since 1975. He co-founded Borstad Associates Ltd. in 1983, providing remote sensing data acquisition and analysis internationally until it merged with ASL Environmental Sciences Inc. in 2009. He served as ASL Vice President and director for many years.

During his 46 year career, Dr. Borstad played an important national and international role in the planning, development, operation and application of hyperspectral sensors. His applications work (with optical, thermal and radar sensors) spans the marine fisheries, ecology, forestry, agriculture, geology, and military/security realms, as well as climate and change detection.

Gary also served as Adjunct professor(s), government Science Advisor, and instructor for many advanced international training courses. He led more than 350 research projects, wrote or co-authored 45 primary publications and 380 technical reports and symposium papers. He was awarded the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Prize in Applied Oceanography in 2011 and the Canadian Remote Sensing Society lifetime achievement award in 2019.

Currently he works part-time (!) and participates where his experience is an asset. He is particularly interested in the magical machine learning/artificial intelligence work underway within the remote sensing group – and his grandchildren of course.

Meet the Team

Our Professional Team

Jan Buermans

President & CEO

Kaan Ersahin

Vice President

Keath Borg

Director, Consulting & Senior Physical Oceanographer

Matthew Asplin

Director, Metocean and Arctic Strategic Partnerships

David Fissel

Co-Founder and Senior Oceanographer

Rick Birch

Senior Oceanographer & Manager of Equipment and Field Operations

Steve Pearce

Acoustics Scientist & AZFP Product Manager

Julek Chawarski

Biological Oceanographer

James Bartlett

Oceanographic Services Scientist and Product Sales Representative

Gary Borstad

Senior Remote Sensing Scientist

José B. Lim

Senior Remote Sensing Analyst

Dan Walters

Data Scientist

Alexander Graham

Remote Sensing Analyst

Amanda Dash

Computer Vision/Deep Learning Specialist

Leslie Brown

Senior Remote Sensing Scientist

Matus Hodul

Remote Sensing Scientist