Student award winners at BoFEP Workshop

Competition was stiff for the awards for best student papers and posters presented at the 8th Bay of Fundy Science Workshop held in May at Acadia University. A total of 14 papers and 12 posters were in the running. This year, first and second place awards were presented separately  to graduate and undergraduate students for their papers and posters to make the competition a bit fairer. The submissions were of exceptionally high quality and judges were hard pressed to select winners…….. all the students deserve hearty congratulations for their efforts. Winners received a book and a certificate, as well as a cheque for $100 for first place and $50 for second place.  Papers dealing with the burrowing amphipod Corophium and students from New Brunswick universities captured the lion's share of the awards. Mount Allison University lauded its four winners in an article (with photo) in its online newsletter available at:  http://www.mta.ca/news/index.php?id=2044#2044 The award winners are as follows:
 

Paper Undergraduate

First - Miriam Coulthard (Mount Allison) The Effect of Ilyanassa obsoleta on the Vertical Distribution of Corophium volutator in Mudflat Ecosystems of the Bay of Fundy

Second - Beth MacDonald (Mount Allison) Nocturnal Habits of Semipalmated Sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) and Corophium volutator on Bay of Fundy mudflats.

Paper Graduate

First - Elizabeth Wallace (Acadia/Mount Allison) Effects of Foraging Semipalmated Sandpipers on the Vertical Distribution of Corophium volutator.

Second - Aaron Frenette (UNB, Fredericton) Contemporary diagnosis of an intracellular parasite of cod: Application for investigating the life history of Loma morhua.

Poster Undergraduate

First - Amanda Savoie (UNB Fredericton) Effects of Density of the Amphipod Corophium volutator on Sediment Properties.

Second - Laura Bursey (UNB, Fredericton) Abundance of Ribbed Mussels (Geukensia demissa) in Salt Marshes Located in Contrasting Tidal Regimes: Northumberland Strait vs Upper Bay of Fundy.

Poster Graduate

First - David Drolet (UNB, Fredericton) Diel and Semi-lunar Cycles in the Swimming Activity of the Amphipod Corophium volutator in the Upper Bay of Fundy.

Second - Kyle Smith (Dalhousie University) The Characterization and Tracking of Sediment-Laden Ice in Minas Basin, Nova Scotia.

BoFEP 2009 Stewardship Award

One of North America’s leading specialists on North Atlantic Right Whales, Dr. Moira Brown, was honoured at the 8th Bay of Fundy Science Workshop held from May 26-28th at Acadia University. Dr. Brown, currently a senior right whale scientist with the New England Aquarium and the Canadian Whale Institute, has dedicated her career to saving the North Atlantic Right whale in Canadian waters. The biennial Bay of Fundy Stewardship Award is presented by the Bay of Fundy Ecosystem Partnership (BoFEP) to an individual who has “contributed significantly to the environmental health/sustainability of the Bay of Fundy”. At Right, Peter Wells, the Chair of BoFEP, presents the award to Moira Brown.

Dr. Brown has not only increased our knowledge of Right Whale biology and ecology through her innovative and wide-ranging research, but has also played a major role in the development of the federal government’s Right Whale Recovery Plan (2000) and the more recent Recovery Strategy for the North Atlantic Right Whale (Eubalaena glacialis) in Atlantic Canadian Waters. Her research and informed counsel led to the moving of the shipping lanes in the Bay of Fundy in 2003, thereby reducing the potential for a ship striking a right whale by 90 %. Her efforts also contributed to the designation in 2008 of a seasonal and voluntary “Area to be Avoided” on Roseway Basin on the Scotian Shelf (another critical Right Whale habitat). The latter ruling affects all vessels of 300 gross tonnage and upwards, with the exception of fishing vessels. Dr. Brown and Dalhousie researchers Angelia Vanderlaan and Chris Taggart used decades of Right Whale sighting data, coupled with vessel transit data, to provide the information that enabled Transport Canada to convince the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to adopt significant conservation measures to reduce the risk of vessel strikes for Right Whales in Atlantic Canadian waters.

Dr. Brown’s conservation efforts and research have also recognized the need to understand and appreciate the effects that her research, and the decisions based on it, has on all stakeholders involved around the Bay. As a result, she has developed a unique relationship with the marine communities (fishing, shipping and whale watching) that share the waters of Atlantic Canada with these threatened whales. By working closely with, and making her research available to, these communities Dr. Brown has directly and indirectly promoted the ecological integrity, vitality, biodiversity and productivity of the Bay which has led to enhancing communication and cooperation throughout communities in the Bay.