DFO SCIENTIST WINS PRESTIGIOUS ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA AWARD

VANCOUVER, B.C. --- Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) announced today that Dr. Robie Macdonald, a research scientist at the Institute of Ocean Sciences in Sidney, B.C., has recently been awarded the Miroslaw Romanowski Medal by the Royal Society of Canada.

The prestigious award recognizes significant contributions to the resolution of scientific aspects of environmental problems or important improvements to the quality of an ecosystem.  The award consists of a bronze medal and an associated annual lecture series for the honoree.

The Royal Society of Canada recognized Dr. Macdonald as a world-class scientist, internationally noted for his work on contaminant pathways in environmental systems. His research includes the role of the ocean in transporting contaminants to the Arctic, Arctic hydrological and ice interactions and organic carbon cycling. His time-series data for the Beaufort Sea reveals that an increase in freshwater in the Canada Basin in the early 1990s was caused for the most part by run-off from rivers rather than from sea-ice melting as had previously been thought. Dr. Macdonald has studied all major contaminants suspected to disrupt development of aquatic organisms, and is recognized internationally as one of the country's leading experts on the behaviour of contaminants in the marine environment.

In addition to his research on contaminants, Dr. Macdonald has studied the freshwater balance and carbon cycling in the Arctic, both of which are important components of the global climate system.  He was awarded the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society President's Prize (2000) for leading the synthesis of Canadian Arctic contaminant studies and was co-recipient of the Head of the Public Service Award for Excellence in Policy (2002).

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For further information:

Diane Lake

Communications Advisor

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

(604) 666-0939