2016 Peter Benchley Ocean Award recipients announced

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Great minds and passionate ocean advocates will again be recognized this year at the world’s preeminent honors for ocean conservation: the 2016 Peter Benchley Ocean Awards.

Last year Dr. Daniel Pauly was awarded for Excellence in Science for his lifetime of rigorous and original scientific research.

The ceremony will be held at the renowned Monteray Bay Aquarium in California, and this years winners will include:

For Excellence in National Stewardship – President Tommy Remengesau Jr. of the Republic of Palau

In October 2015 President Remengesau Jr. signed into law legislation protecting 80 percent of Palau’s territorial waters from all extractive activities, including fishing, drilling and mining. The size of the marine reserve is the size of the state of California. Two months later, in December 2015, President Remengesau also signed an international treaty targeting illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) pirate fishing. Several vessels have already been caught under this law.

For Excellence in Science – Dr. Barbara Block

Dr. Barbara Block is a marine biologist and Stanford professor who is renowned for her research of tunas, billfish, sharks and other migratory marine animals. Through her research she has expanded the body of knowledge of highly migratory fish behavior, physiology, and ecology. She has further studied the interaction of many marine species with the ocean through satellite tagging and tracking techniques on a global scale. For over a decade she established and was the leader of a decade-long project for the Census of Marine LIfe called the TOPP (Tagging Of Pacific Predators) which recognized an animal-rich current found off the western shores of North America called the “Blue Serengeti.”

For a full list of the award recipients, please visit the Peter Benchley Ocean Awards