Fisheries expert Ransom Myers dies

Ransom A. Myers, 54, an expert on understanding changes in marine biodiversity related to commercial fishing, died March 27 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, after battling brain cancer since last fall. He was the chair of Ocean Studies at Dalhousie University. Known to his friends and colleagues as “Ram,” he brought attention to the issue of fish loss in 2003, when he and a team of scientists reported that 90 percent of the world's large fish, including tuna, swordfish, cod, and flounder, were gone because of overfishing.

Just three days after his death, a research report by Myers and a team of Canadian and American ecologists on the rippling effect of overfishing great sharks appeared in Science magazine. The report concluded that elimination of great sharks carries risks of broader ecosystem degradation. For example, it can inhibit the recovery of scallop, oyster, and clam populations along the U.S. Atlantic coast. Overfishing in the Atlantic of the largest predatory sharks, including the bull, great white, dusky, and hammerheads, has led to an explosion of ray, skate, and small shark prey species. That means prey species such as cownose rays have increased in numbers and in turn are wiping out bay scallop fisheries.

In a public lecture series at the University of Rhode Island last summer, Myers talked about the consequences of losing large ocean species. If current trends in large predator reduction continue, giving the middle-sized predators the chance to expand, he said the survival or recovery of small fish and soft shell clams will be in question.

By Lori Valigra, editor

© 2007 The Gulf of Maine Times