Marine Conservation Organization Announces Grants in Historical Marine Ecology

August 29, 2007

Glen Ellen CA, Bellevue WA –Marine Conservation Biology Institute announced today the recipients of the 2007 Mia J. Tegner Memorial Research Grants in Marine Environmental History and Historical Marine Ecology.  This granting program is one of the first in the world to exclusively support projects documenting the long-term influence of human activities on ocean life and marine ecosystems.  These efforts to establish the historical ecological baselines and human-uses of marine ecosystems and resources are critical for helping lawmakers, regulators, managers and conservationists set appropriate targets for marine conservation efforts.  According to Dr. Lance Morgan, Vice President for Science at MCBI, “This year’s winners represent some very bright young stars in the field of marine conservation.  These projects will improve our understanding of past conditions in the oceans as well as provide these scientists the opportunity to advance their careers”.

The 2007 Mia J. Tegner recipients will be looking to establish historical conditions of populations and communities through a range of techniques such as historical archives, carbon dating, historical maps, and traditional indigenous knowledge of marine resources.  They will be working in marine environments ranging from the Pacific Northwest coast of the U.S. to the Seychelles Islands, to islands in the Benguela Current off of South Africa and in the South Pacific.  For 2007, MCBI awarded 8 grants from a pool of 60 proposals representing scientists or science teams from 15 different nations. 

This year’s recipients are as follows:

1. Marcus Barber, James Cook University, Australia, “Indigenous environmental memories and past ecological conditions in coastal Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia.”  
2. Adrian Jordaan, Stony Brook University, USA “Is the recovery of cod along the Maine coast limited by reduced anadromous river herring populations?” 
3. Deborah McArdle, U.C. Santa Barbara, USA, “A life history approach to interpreting and predicting resilience: historical response of an exploited marine species to fluctuations in fishing and climate.” 
4. Hem H. Morzaria-Luna, Centro Intercultural de Estudios de Desiertos y Océanos, Mexico, “Historical ecology of coastal wetlands of the Northern Gulf of California.” 
5. John Nevill, Seychelles, “Establishing an historical baseline for the Seychelles shark fishery to enable enhanced conservation and management.” 
6. Daniel Tonnes, University of Washington, USA, “Age and ecological role of old-growth drift wood in Puget Sound.” 
7. Lance van Sittert, University of Cape Town, South Africa, “Ecological inventory of South African Guano Islands Administrative Inventory – 1890-1950.” 
8. Sancia van der Meij, National Museum of Natural History Naturalis, The Netherlands, “Changes in species compositions in assemblages of stony corals and mollusks in Jakarta Bay and the Thousand Islands archipelago, Java Sea, Indonesia (1920-2005).”

Dr. Mia J. Tegner, a marine biologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, lost her life in January 2001 while carrying out research off Southern California.  She studied the ecology of kelp forest communities and abalone populations, and was particularly interested in understanding how marine populations and ecosystems have changed as a result of human activities. This pioneering research earned her appointments as a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation and as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The Mia J. Tegner Memorial Research honors her memory and is administered by Marine Conservation Biology Institute (MCBI) with funding from the Oak Foundation, the Christensen Fund and NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation.

Marine Conservation Biology Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the science of marine conservation biology and promoting cooperation essential to protecting and recovering the Earth’s biological integrity.  Founded in 1996, it is headquartered in Bellevue WA, and has offices in Glen Ellen CA and Washington DC.

Visit www.mcbi.org for more information