From the Washington Post:
Ransom A. Myers, 54, the world-renowned fisheries biologist whose research showed that the number of large fish in the world's oceans has dropped by 90 percent in the past 50 years, died of a brain tumor March 27 at a hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The journal Science has just published a major paper co-written by Dr. Myers, "Cascading Effects of the Loss of Apex Predatory Sharks from a Coastal Ocean," about the importance of sharks in marine ecosystems. There is an abstract of the paper on the Science website.
More than any other scientist, Ransom's work has alerted us to the full extent of the rapid decline in fish populations in recent years, particularly large pelagics and other predators.
Click for the full Washington Post obituary of Myers.
Where the Sahara meets the Atlantic
“Acid Test” documentary on ocean acidification premieres tonight
Comments
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Biodiversivist Posted 1:42 pm
02 Apr 2007
I don't stay optimistic or pessimistic; I just have hope. We're going down a very dangerous path and I believe we now have a very narrow window. This is the time to act and if we don't act in the next few years, we're toast. I'm at the end of my life; I have more than I need of everything. Whatever happens now is not going to affect me, but it's going to affect my grandchildren. I've got to do everything I can to make sure that my grandchildren don't say to me, "Grandpa, you could have done more.
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world
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Robert Delfs Posted 2:17 pm
02 Apr 2007
http://www.globalshark.ca/pressmaterial/ca...b=-1&pmi ...
or
http://as01.ucis.dal.ca/ramweb/papers-tota...007_Science. ...
There is a moving obit from Myers' colleagues at Dalhousie University with some interesting links.
The Dalhousie obit quotes Myers saying in an interview before he died: "I want there to be hammerhead sharks and bluefin tuna around when my five-year-old son grows up. If present fishing levels persist, these great fish will go the way of the dinosaurs."
Right now, the odds on this don't look so great, but through his work Myers did a great deal to improve the chances that the great fish will still survive through the lives of children's children's lives.
Robert Delfs
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