Science Awards

Renowned nationally and internationally as the "father" of the electronic chart, Michael Eaton envisaged a computerized version of the traditional marine chart that is now a common navigation tool contributing to greater marine safety around the world. In June 2005, he was named a member of the Order of Canada for his outstanding contributions to the advancement of hydrography. Now Scientist Emeritus with the Canadian Hydrographic Service, he developed techniques to accurately map frozen bodies of water and combined various positioning systems to more precisely survey ocean waters.

The Royal Society of Canada announced in May that Dr. Robie Macdonald, FRSC, a senior research scientist at the Institute of Ocean Sciences in Sidney, B.C., was awarded the 2005 Miroslaw Romanowski Medal. 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 Society recognized Dr. Macdonald as a world-class scientist, internationally noted for his work on contaminant pathways in environmental systems.

Jean-Claude Therriault, Institut Maurice Lamontagne, for his outstanding career as a Canadian marine biologist and his continuing leadership of oceanographic research in Quebec. His wide-ranging contributions to the understanding of marine ecosystems, particularly in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Hudson Bay and the Canadian North, have significantly impacted conservation and sustainability of living marine resources. He has also played an important operational oceanographic role in Atlantic coastal waters through the Atlantic Zone Monitoring Program (AZMP) and in the establishment of the Gulf of St. Lawrence Observatory.

Dr. Edward Trippel at St. Andrews Biological Station preparing barium sulphate gillnet and weak rope for experimental field trials in the Bay of Fundy.

Dr. Edward Trippel, a DFO scientist at St. Andrews Biological Station, won first prize in the inaugural International Smart Gear Competition. The win was announced in April 2005 in the competition sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund. He was recognized for his innovative research to increase the reflective properties of gillnets and to design weak rope to reduce the incidence of bycatch of porpoises and whales in commercial fisheries.