Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Ram's Mermaid
Desperately Seeking Susan is seeking a picture of Ram's mermaid. Please post a pik here or email it to her.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
RAM inducted in N.S. Hall of Fame
"Nova Scotia’s best and brightest minds were honoured last night at The 2007 Discovery Awards for Science and Technology. The 5th annual gala event celebrated dedicated individuals from the fields of science and technology whose locally, nationally and internationally recognized work is being carried out right here in Nova Scotia.
The awards are held as a Discovery Centre fundraiser and as a unique way to recognize the exceptional talents of Nova Scotians working in science and technology.
Three people were also inducted into the Nova Scotia Hall of Fame for Science and Technology: Dr. Frederic Sexton, founder of Nova Scotia Technical College, Dr. Ransom Myers, a world leader in large marine animal analysis, and Dr. Robert Ackman, co-founder of Canadian Institute of Fisheries Technology.
The awards are held as a Discovery Centre fundraiser and as a unique way to recognize the exceptional talents of Nova Scotians working in science and technology.
Three people were also inducted into the Nova Scotia Hall of Fame for Science and Technology: Dr. Frederic Sexton, founder of Nova Scotia Technical College, Dr. Ransom Myers, a world leader in large marine animal analysis, and Dr. Robert Ackman, co-founder of Canadian Institute of Fisheries Technology.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Nova Scotia News - TheChronicleHerald.ca
Nova Scotia News - TheChronicleHerald.ca
Discovery Centre has announced that it will posthumously induct Dr. Ransom Myers, world leader in large marine animal analysis, into the Nova Scotia Science and Technology Hall of Fame. Myers dedicated his career to studying marine life in Nova Scotia and around the world.
Among Myers’ many breakthroughs, his research revealed that a few decades ago, tuna were twice the size they are today, and that marlins the size of killer whales once swam the world’s oceans. At the forefront of his work, Dr. Myers’ provided evidence, which he and a co-worker produced and published, that demonstrated that 90 per cent of the world’s large fish population has vanished completely.......
The Hall of Fame induction will take place at the 2007 Discovery Awards for Science and Technology on November 29 at the Westin Nova Scotian Hotel.
Discovery Centre has announced that it will posthumously induct Dr. Ransom Myers, world leader in large marine animal analysis, into the Nova Scotia Science and Technology Hall of Fame. Myers dedicated his career to studying marine life in Nova Scotia and around the world.
Among Myers’ many breakthroughs, his research revealed that a few decades ago, tuna were twice the size they are today, and that marlins the size of killer whales once swam the world’s oceans. At the forefront of his work, Dr. Myers’ provided evidence, which he and a co-worker produced and published, that demonstrated that 90 per cent of the world’s large fish population has vanished completely.......
The Hall of Fame induction will take place at the 2007 Discovery Awards for Science and Technology on November 29 at the Westin Nova Scotian Hotel.
Monday, September 24, 2007
RAM working on vacation
I took this picture just over a year ago. Ram was working during his family vacation in Cape Breton. And now, it's almost a six months since he left us... involuntarly and unwillingly. Ram had so much more work to do, so many ideas, and yes, so much love for all of us. Damn Brain Cancer! 
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Was RAM an "Ocean Historian?"
"Dusting off sales records, fishery yearbooks and other sources, researchers Brian R. MacKenzie of the Technical University of Denmark and the late Ransom Myers of Canada’s Dalhousie University show majestic bluefins teemed in northern European waters (North Sea, Norwegian Sea, Skaggerak, Kattegat, and Oresund ) for a few months each summer until an industrialized fishery geared up in the 1920s and literally filled the floors of European market halls with them.
The research, to appear in a special edition of the peer-reviewed journal Fisheries Research, shows that generations ago Atlantic bluefins typically arrived in the northern waters by the thousands in late June and departed by October at the latest, their foraging travels likely related to seasonal warming."
http://www.huliq.com/29399/historians-detail-collapse-of-bluefin-tuna-population-off-northern-europe
The research, to appear in a special edition of the peer-reviewed journal Fisheries Research, shows that generations ago Atlantic bluefins typically arrived in the northern waters by the thousands in late June and departed by October at the latest, their foraging travels likely related to seasonal warming."
http://www.huliq.com/29399/historians-detail-collapse-of-bluefin-tuna-population-off-northern-europe
Monday, August 6, 2007
Bluefin Tuna/Northern Europe/New Study by RAM &I Brain R. MacKenzie
Marine historians chart collapse of bluefin stocks
Updated Sun. Aug. 5 2007 12:38 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
For the first time, ocean historians have been able to create a detailed picture of the "burst of fishing" from 1900 to 1950 that led to the collapse of bluefin tuna stocks off the coast of northern Europe.
The research, released Sunday afternoon, was completed by Brian R. MacKenzie of the Technical University of Denmark and the late Ransom Myers of Canada's Dalhousie University.
Myers, who died earlier this year, had worked on some of the most important surveys of global fish stocks.
Some of the research was completed with the Tag-A-Giant (TAG) program, which uses electronic tags to track migrations of giant bluefins off Ireland and in the Gulf of Mexico.
Barbara Block, a marine sciences professor at Stanford University and chief scientist of the CoML Tagging of Pacific Predators program and TAG, told CTV.ca the tagging technology has been active for 14 years and has led to a greater understanding of the North Atlantic fisheries.
"We are using some of the coolest technology on the planet," she said. "We are putting something the equivalent in price of a laptop computer inside the tuna ... and like a submarine, we are asking 'where is it going?'"
There are three bluefin species of tuna: Atlantic, Pacific and Southern Bluefin, and they are one of the most lucrative commercial fish in the sea. Their quickly declining numbers has been a great concern to scientists and sushi lovers around the world.
The Atlantic bluefin have two populations -- one in the East Atlantic, and one in the West Atlantic. The 45th meridian divides the two populations for purposes of the study.
The study began with a bit of history -- looking at the almost mythical bluefins that once teemed in northern European waters (North Sea, Norwegian Sea, Skaggerak, Kattegat, and Oresund) for a few months each summer.
The smallest weighed 40 kilograms, but there were also giants of up to 700 kilograms. They began disappearing when an industrialized fishery geared up in the 1920s, using harpoon rifles and hydraulic lift nets.
By 1960, the species had virtually disappeared from the region.
"We've shown bluefin tuna were here for a long time in high numbers," MacKenzie said in a news release. "High fishing pressure preceded the species' virtual disappearance from the area and apparently played a key role but other factors under study might have compounded the fishery's demise -- the catch of juvenile tuna in subsequent years, for example.
Tagging shows travel patterns
The research team hopes their work will inspire "a more precautionary approach to the management of bluefin tuna in the Atlantic."
Today, Atlantic bluefin stocks are down 80 to 90 per cent compared to historical breeding populations.
CoML-associated scientists working with the Tag-A-Giant (TAG) program tracked migration patterns, and learned that fish tagged within minutes of each other wound up more than 5,000 km apart eight months later.:
One swam 6,000 km, past Bermuda to waters about 300 kilometres northeast of Cuba
The other remained in the eastern Atlantic and moved off the coasts of Portugal
A third tagged bluefin swam into the Mediterranean Sea and was caught by fishers southeast of Malta in 2005
Tuna have generally been harder to track than other fish stocks. The species keeps body temperature independent of the ambient environment. This allows it to go into very cold, northern waters -- and travel much longer migration routes than other fish.
The electronic tags allow scientists to determine exactly where the tuna breed, and the oceanographic conditions they are selecting.
"That's the first time for a large tuna species that we've had this kind of data to say this," Block said. "This information can help scientists and policy-makers best protect the remaining tuna while they are spawning."
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070803/bluefin_tuna_070803/20070805?hub=TopStories
Updated Sun. Aug. 5 2007 12:38 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
For the first time, ocean historians have been able to create a detailed picture of the "burst of fishing" from 1900 to 1950 that led to the collapse of bluefin tuna stocks off the coast of northern Europe.
The research, released Sunday afternoon, was completed by Brian R. MacKenzie of the Technical University of Denmark and the late Ransom Myers of Canada's Dalhousie University.
Myers, who died earlier this year, had worked on some of the most important surveys of global fish stocks.
Some of the research was completed with the Tag-A-Giant (TAG) program, which uses electronic tags to track migrations of giant bluefins off Ireland and in the Gulf of Mexico.
Barbara Block, a marine sciences professor at Stanford University and chief scientist of the CoML Tagging of Pacific Predators program and TAG, told CTV.ca the tagging technology has been active for 14 years and has led to a greater understanding of the North Atlantic fisheries.
"We are using some of the coolest technology on the planet," she said. "We are putting something the equivalent in price of a laptop computer inside the tuna ... and like a submarine, we are asking 'where is it going?'"
There are three bluefin species of tuna: Atlantic, Pacific and Southern Bluefin, and they are one of the most lucrative commercial fish in the sea. Their quickly declining numbers has been a great concern to scientists and sushi lovers around the world.
The Atlantic bluefin have two populations -- one in the East Atlantic, and one in the West Atlantic. The 45th meridian divides the two populations for purposes of the study.
The study began with a bit of history -- looking at the almost mythical bluefins that once teemed in northern European waters (North Sea, Norwegian Sea, Skaggerak, Kattegat, and Oresund) for a few months each summer.
The smallest weighed 40 kilograms, but there were also giants of up to 700 kilograms. They began disappearing when an industrialized fishery geared up in the 1920s, using harpoon rifles and hydraulic lift nets.
By 1960, the species had virtually disappeared from the region.
"We've shown bluefin tuna were here for a long time in high numbers," MacKenzie said in a news release. "High fishing pressure preceded the species' virtual disappearance from the area and apparently played a key role but other factors under study might have compounded the fishery's demise -- the catch of juvenile tuna in subsequent years, for example.
Tagging shows travel patterns
The research team hopes their work will inspire "a more precautionary approach to the management of bluefin tuna in the Atlantic."
Today, Atlantic bluefin stocks are down 80 to 90 per cent compared to historical breeding populations.
CoML-associated scientists working with the Tag-A-Giant (TAG) program tracked migration patterns, and learned that fish tagged within minutes of each other wound up more than 5,000 km apart eight months later.:
One swam 6,000 km, past Bermuda to waters about 300 kilometres northeast of Cuba
The other remained in the eastern Atlantic and moved off the coasts of Portugal
A third tagged bluefin swam into the Mediterranean Sea and was caught by fishers southeast of Malta in 2005
Tuna have generally been harder to track than other fish stocks. The species keeps body temperature independent of the ambient environment. This allows it to go into very cold, northern waters -- and travel much longer migration routes than other fish.
The electronic tags allow scientists to determine exactly where the tuna breed, and the oceanographic conditions they are selecting.
"That's the first time for a large tuna species that we've had this kind of data to say this," Block said. "This information can help scientists and policy-makers best protect the remaining tuna while they are spawning."
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070803/bluefin_tuna_070803/20070805?hub=TopStories
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Ecology Action Centre's Sunshine Award = RAM
"Ransom Myers Even after his death, Ram's work is coming out in Science and Nature. Just like the sun - Ram's impact on the world will take a while to set. Ram was never afraid to speak his mind and to work on things that were important for marine conservation. Ram was almost always happy and despite the magnitude of the problems he worked on, he always saw solutions. Ram was a great naturalist in that he loved the outdoors, loved asking questions and had a great appreciation for the work the natural environment did for us humans. Ram's science fundamentally changed fisheries science, raised very important marine conservation issues and really did make a difference in marine policy and law, particularly the work he and others did on shark bycatch in the pelagic longline fishery." http://ecologyaction.ca/awards/
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