Dr. Susan Shaw To Address Threat of Rising Toxicity on World Oceans Day

June 4, 2012 - PRLog -- New York, NY — Dr. Susan Shaw, leading marine toxicologist, ocean advocate and founder and director of the Marine Environmental Research Institute (MERI), will give the opening presentation at an event at the University of Southern Maine on June 8th in commemoration of World Oceans Day and the 50th anniversary of the publication of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. Based on Dr. Shaw’s pioneering research on the toxic legacy of man-made chemicals in the ocean environment, her presentation will address the current imperiled state of the world’s oceans and the importance of preserving marine ecosystems for current and future generations.

The event, hosted by the Maine Coastal Program, will focus on the achievements of women in ocean exploration and advocacy, featuring talks by Anne Doubilet, a Hall of Fame diver and underwater photographer for National Geographic, and Dr. Nancy Knowlton, a coral reef and biodiversity scientist from the Smithsonian Institution’s Natural History Museum.

“Most of our planet’s toxic, man-made pollutants ultimately wind up in the oceans, which have a finite capacity to absorb them,” commented Dr. Shaw. “The rising toxicity in our oceans not only endangers marine species but also threatens human health and wellbeing. Rachel Carson warned about chemical toxicity on land. Now we have the future of our oceans and our own survival in our hands.”  

Dr. Shaw’s presentation will include a three-minute video highlighting insights from her research as a marine toxicologist, what she learned from her dive into the Gulf of Mexico oil slick and her vision of healthier oceans in the future.  

The video can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_fvqYN6Y-E



Following Shaw’s presentation, Doubilet will speak about her work as a diver and underwater photographer, discussing the beauty she has seen in the depths of the oceans, and how the devastating changes she has witnessed underwater for 40 years have spurred her to become a dedicated ocean advocate. After Doubilet, Knowlton will focus her presentation on some of the success stories in ocean conservation.  

The program will begin at 6 p.m. at USM’s Abromson Center.


About Dr. Susan Shaw

A marine toxicologist, explorer, author, and passionate ocean advocate, Susan Shaw is widely known for her pioneering research on the toxic legacy of man-made chemicals in the ocean environment. She is credited as the first scientist to show that flame retardant chemicals used in consumer products have contaminated marine mammals and commercially important fish stocks in the northwest Atlantic.

An outspoken and influential voice on ocean pollution, Shaw dove in the Gulf of Mexico oil slick in May 2010 and has informed the national debate on the hazards of chemical dispersants. She currently leads an investigation on the effects of oil and chemical dispersants in the Gulf ecosystem and serves on the U.S. Department of Interior’s Strategic Sciences Working Group, a team of scientists charged with assessing consequences of the oil spill and recommending policy actions. She appears in several documentary films on the Gulf disaster including Animal Planet’s Black Tide: Voices of the Gulf and Green Planet’s The Big Fix, the Official Selection documentary at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

Shaw chairs The Explorers Club State of the Oceans Forums highlighting solutions to the crisis facing the world’s oceans.

A Fulbright Scholar with dual degrees from Columbia University in film and public health/environmental health sciences, Shaw published Overexposure, the first book on the health hazards of photographic chemicals, in 1983 with Ansel Adams. She is the director and founder of the Marine Environmental Research Institute (MERI) in Blue Hill, Maine, and Professor at The School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, State University of New York, Albany.

The recipient of numerous awards, Dr. Shaw is a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow and was named Gulf of Maine “Visionary” by the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment. In 2011 Shaw received the Society of Women Geographers’ Gold Medal Award, joining the ranks of Amelia Earhart, Margaret Mead, Jane Goodall, and Sylvia Earle.

In March 2012, Dr. Shaw received the Explorers Club Citation of Merit Award for “extraordinary feats of exploration and research” and her leadership role in ocean conservation at the Explorers Club Annual Dinner ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City.

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