May 25 2009
The oceans make up 70 per cent of the Earth's surface, 90 per cent of the biosphere and are the most important parts of the global environment. Through overfishing, air pollution and pumping waste directly into them, humans have neglected and taken for granted the oceans, and the life dependant on them, for too long.
Ron O'Dor. Credit: Danny Abriel, Dalhousie University
Ron O'Dor has spent his life researching the oceans, working to understand marine life, and reversing this downward spiral draining our planet of its lifeblood. His dedication has earned him Canadian Geographic's Environmental Scientist of the Year award.
“It's a pleasure to be recognized for my scientific contributions,” says Dr. O'Dor. “I don't consider myself an environmentalist, just a scientist interested in the environment.”
A Professor of Biology at Dalhousie, Dr. O'Dor is the scientific director for the Dalhousie-headquartered Ocean Tracking Network (OTN), a $168-million global conservation project uniting leading ocean scientists around the globe. Acoustic tags and receivers track and record the migration and feeding habits of marine life around the world and measure information such as salinity and temperature. OTN will put an end to the knowledge void of the ocean and lead to a global standard in ocean management. Additionally, Dr. O'Dor is the chief science officer of the Census of Marine Life (CoML), a Washington D.C. based 10-year 82-nation project to gauge and record the diversity, distribution and abundance of life in the world's oceans.
Dr. O'Dor is pleased that OTN and the CoML are both unbiased sources of factual information. Both attempt to focus on good information as opposed to opinions, much like the man leading them.
“OTN and the Census are like CSI,” he says, comparing them to the popular TV series. “We don't write the laws and we don't catch the bad guys, but we collect the evidence and give it to those with the power to do so.”
While his work can take him around the globe in weeks, he has a passion for what he does. “I've never taken a job I didn't enjoy and I never plan on doing so,” he says. He manages to stay on top of his work by not getting bogged down with minute details. “Someone has to keep their eye on the pie in the sky,” explains Dr. O'Dor.
He admits the constant travel has an interesting side effect. “My brain has turned into a PowerPoint presentation,” he laughs. “I am constantly giving and listening to presentations and now I process information as if it's on the background of a PowerPoint slide.”
Environmentally and regarding the oceans, he thinks society is moving toward better practices. Pointing to coral beds being closed to fishing in the Bahamas, places in the the Northeast Atlantic banning trawling and increased funding from OTN partners such as Australia for ocean observing, he thinks humans are beginning to understand the urgency facing the environment. “If you have the power to destroy something, you have to take responsibility for it,” he says.
Dr. O'Dor is the fourth recipient of Canadian Geographic's Environmental Scientist of the Year Award. He is profiled in the latest issue of Canadian Geographic.