For Immediate
Release
Contact:
Dr. Lance Morgan (707) 938-3214 (office)
Dr. Elliott Norse (425)
968-0449 (office)
Marine Conservation Organization Announces Grants in Historical Marine
Ecology
September 20, 2005
(Bellevue, WA
and Glen Ellen, CA) Marine Conservation Biology Institute (MCBI) announced
today the 2005 Mia J. Tegner Memorial Research Grant in Marine Environmental
History and Historical Marine Ecology award winners. This grant program is one
of the first in the world to specifically help scientists document the
interaction of human activities upon ocean life and marine ecosystems.
Information from these studies are crucial for helping lawmakers, regulators,
managers and conservationists set appropriate targets for marine conservation
efforts. This year, MCBI awarded 5 grants from a pool of 76 proposals, which
represented scientists or science teams from 31 nations.
The Tegner Award program seeks to document the state of marine biological
diversity prior to human industrial activities. In many cases, researchers and
conservationists do not know the base-line environment they are studying, but
indigenous or traditional ecological knowledge can help fill this gap.
Conservation biologists are increasingly aware of an ecological syndrome termed
“Shifting Baselines”, whereby today’s researchers cannot
fully interpret current ecological health against a backdrop of long-term
gradual environmental degradation and change which may span decades to centuries.
The 2005 Tegner Award winners will be looking to establish historical pictures
of populations and communities from such novel techniques as historical photo
archives to traditional ecological knowledge of indigenous peoples to
historical analysis including analyses of log books, maps and other historical
documents. In some cases researchers will be working with aboriginal
communities to access indigenous knowledge of ecology. Many of this year’s
2005 Tegner research projects focus on traditional ecological knowledge, as it
is becoming increasingly apparent that management strategies for indigenous
societies based solely on ecological or biological data are seriously
inadequate. The 2005 award winners are:
1) Jo Marie Acebes (Philippines) “Historical
whaling in the Philippines:
origins of ‘indigenous subsistence whaling’, mapping whaling
grounds and comparison with current known distribution.” The history of
whaling in the Philippines
is largely undocumented. Acebes’ study will determine the origins and
development of ‘indigenous subsistence whaling’ and will map the
historical whaling grounds of local people’s and foreign whalers. The
data obtained in this study will be compared to current whale distributions in
the Philippines
and will be used to assess conservation and management.
2)
Darrin Drumm (New
Zealand) University
of Otago,
“Tracking a millennium of reef exploitation and ecological impacts of
human interactions with the reefs of the southern Cook
Islands: a study of archaeological, anthropological and contemporary
evidence.” Drumm’s
study will develop a historical account of human exploitation practices of the
coral reefs of the Cook Islands over a 700–1,000
year period. This research will help focus conservation efforts by providing a
baseline of the historical, pre-impact conditions as well as an understanding
of the magnitude of human-related impacts on the coral reefs and their
resources. By providing an understanding of the full social and historical
dimensions of indigenous interactions with the marine environment, this study
will also use indigenous ecological knowledge to help inform management
decisions.
3) Heather Lazrus
(USA) University
of Washington, “Global
climate change in the South Pacific: traditional environmental knowledge and
community responses on Polynesian Atolls.” Lazrus’ ethnographic
research will focus on understanding ways that traditional ecological knowledge
can increase community social and ecological resilience to global climate
change on Funafuti and Nanumea Atolls, located in the nation of Tuvalu.
Tuvalu
has been inhabited for over 2000 years, thus, accumulated local knowledge of
ecological changes may provide robust systems for dealing with ecological
disasters during this time. In addition to providing environmental baselines of
this region, this study will also assess modes of social adaptation to these
changes over time. The information obtained in this project will assist the
government of Tuvalu
with conservation strategies towards the anticipated impacts of global climate
change in the future.
4)
Joelle Prange (Australia) Marine Studies Program,
University of the South Pacific. “Integrating
scientific and local indigenous knowledge of coral reef communities of the
Great Astrolabe Reef, Fiji.”
The South Pacific is an area of distinct biological diversity; however
conservation of these regions greatly depends upon the combination of culture
and science. Prange’s research will be one of the first studies to
document and integrate indigenous and scientific knowledge of coral reef communities
within the Astrolabe Reef, Fiji.
The goal 'is to compare community understanding of coral reef communities with
scientific descriptions, and to utilize this information, if appropriate, in
development of resource/inventory maps.
5)
John Reed (USA) Harbor Branch Oceanographic
Institution: “Effects of bottom trawling on a
deep-water coral reef”. Using photographic archives Mr. Reed will
look to analyze the historic extend and composition of deep-water Oculina reefs off the coast of Florida prior to widespread
bottom trawl activity. The unique Oculina
coral reef ecosystem is biologically diverse and productive, thus vulnerable to
mechanical anthropogenic impacts. These fisheries, which target shrimp, have
resulted in the estimated loss of 90% or more of Oculina deep-water reefs. Reed’s study will seek
to establish baseline conditions of these reefs.
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. These
memorial research grants were started to honor her memory by Marine
Conservation Biology Institute with funding from the Christensen Fund.
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.
Go to www.mcbi.org for more information on this and other MCBI
projects, publications and staff.
*** NEW ADDRESS &
PHONE ***
Lance Morgan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist
Marine Conservation
Biology Institute
14301 Arnold Dr. Suite 25
Glen Ellen,
CA 95442 USA
V. 707.938.3214
F. 707.996.4842
lance@mcbi.org