Today@Dal

Kudos to the Department of Biology's Boris Worm and Heike Lotze, who have been awarded this year's Peter Benchley Ocean Award for Excellence in Science.

The awards, presented by the Blue Frontier Campaign and marine conservationist Wendy Benchley, celebrate exceptional efforts leading to the protection of our ocean, coasts and the communities that depend on them. The award is named for the author of Jaws, who dedicated much of his life to the protection of sharks and the ocean ecosystems they are a part of.

Drs. Worm and Lotze's citation reads:

Working both separately and in collaboration, this husband and wife team of scientists from Dalhousie University in Canada have continued to expand on the work of the late Ransom Myers the first Benchley science award winner. Through their extensive body of work they have significantly increased the world’s knowledge about the changing abundance and diversity of the planet’s fish and marine wildlife populations and the impact of nutrient pollution and other human activities.

The award will be presented at a ceremony on May 15.