Daniel Pauly participates in international fishing documentary

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Daniel Pauly on set in Newfoundland, Canada. Photo credit: Rick Stanley

Daniel Pauly recently returned from Newfoundland, Canada, where he was working on an international fishing documentary.

The film, produced by the Khaled bin Sultan Living Ocean Foundation near Washington D.C., will be filmed in five locations including Honduras, South America, the U.S., Bahamas, Senegal, Africa,  — and, of course, Newfoundland, Canada.

As Pauly explains, the film explores the role of small-boat fishermen and how they contribute to the economy.

“There is a lack of awareness from the government,” he says. “They don’t understand how these fisherman fit into the economy, and so they tend to favour bigger fishing companies.”

Pauly is the film’s on-camera investigator who also serves as link between the countries.

The film is currently in production and is aiming for release in spring 2016.

 

Sea Around Us attends meeting to support conservation assessment for Antarctica and the Southern Ocean

A senior researcher with the Sea Around Us recently attended a three-day meeting earlier this month to discuss conservation of biodiversity with Antarctic experts in Monaco.

Deng Palomares, who recently worked on an Antarctic report for the Sea Around Us, said the meeting was an important step in identifying and assuring that Antarctic research focuses on the gaps in current data.

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“It was a very successful endeavour seeing that the experts who participated in the assessment came from a multidisciplinary background,” Palomares said. “One of the most significant contributions of those three days is the engagement promised by these experts to continue their work in the Antarctic.”

Co-organized by the Government of the Principality of Monaco, the Centre Scientifique de Monaco, SCAR, and Monash University, the meeting was meant to assess whether the conservation of the biodiversity of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean is meeting the targets of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020.

The meeting also aimed to provide guidance for action that can effectively help deliver further conservation successes for the regions. Another goal was to identify key areas for work and indicators to help guide that work, which resulted in the Antarctica and the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020: The Monaco Assessment.

“The initial expert assessment indicates a biodiversity outlook for Antarctica and the Southern Ocean which is no better than that for the rest of the globe,” said professor Steven Chown of Monash University, who co-organized the meeting.

HSH Prince Albert II of Manaco, who closed the meeting June 10, emphasized that activity in the Antarctic region — including not only fishing and tourism, but also some scientific activities — has drastically increased.

“I am convinced that common action from all countries and parties, can improve the situation for the better,” HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco noted. “I can assure you that my Government and my Foundation will make every effort possible to ensure that science continues to prevail in this land with international cooperation”

Organizers and attendees left feeling hopeful that there will be effective action over the next five years to dramatically improve the state of biodiversity in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.

You can read more on The Monaco Assessment here

 

13th Annual FishBase Symposium in Philippines to take place this fall

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A group shot from the 2014 FishBase Symposium that took place at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

The 13th annual FishBase Symposium will take place September 1, 2015, hosted by the FishBase Information and Research Group, Inc. (FIN) in Los Baños, Philippines to mark the 25th and 10th year anniversaries of FishBase and SealifeBase, respectively.

Convened by Drs Mary Ann Bimbao (FIN) and Deng Palomares, Sea Around Us Senior Scientist, the theme for the Symposium is FishBase and SeaLifeBase for Teaching and Research in Aquatic Science. It aims to promote a deeper understanding of why and how FishBase and SeaLifeBase can be used for teaching and research in the Philippines.

Invited speakers come from local universities and research institutions, FishBase Consortium members who themselves use FishBase in teaching ichthyology courses and offer FishBase workshops regularly, and students from universities and secondary schools in the Philippines.

Dr Daniel Pauly, Principal Investigator of the Sea Around Us and co-maker of FishBase will give the keynote address. Dr Dirk Zeller, Sea Around Us Project Manager, will also attend the Symposium.

Other anniversary celebration activities include a poster exhibit of FishBase and SeaLifeBase, a book-giving activity to local libraries, students’ hands-on orientation on FishBase and SeaLifeBase and an art competition expressing underwater relationships and connections.

Schedule of Events:

1 Sept. 2015 (Tuesday): 13th Annual FishBase Symposium
1-4 Sept. 2015 (Tuesday-Friday):  Poster exhibit, Book-giving to libraries, Art competition, Students’ hands-on orientation on FishBase and SeaLifeBase, Media splash
2-4 Sept. 2015 (Wednesday-Friday): FishBase Consortium Annual Meeting

Events Coordinators:

  • Dr. Maria Lourdes D. Palomares, FIN Associate Scientific Director and Chair of the FishBase Consortium
  • Dr. Mary Ann P. Bimbao, FIN Executive Director

Gordon Tsui – Research Assistant

Gordon-TsuiGordon Tsui has joined the Sea Around Us as a Research Assistant. Gordon grew up in the historical fishing village of Steveston in Richmond. Being surrounded by the local fishermen and fish markets, he became fascinated by fisheries and the environment. He completed his undergraduate degree with a B.Sc. in Environmental Science at UBC in 2014. Having volunteered for the Sea Around Us during his degree, he is happy to continue his time at the Sea Around Us after his graduation. He hopes to continue to learn about fisheries and their impacts for countries around the world. In his spare time, Gordon enjoys traveling and outdoor activities such as hiking and scuba diving.

New research reveals population trends for world seabirds

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A Rhinoceros Auklet (seabird) eating sandlance (Photo: Daniel Donnecke)

New Sea Around Us research has found drastic decline in the monitored portion of the global seabird population.

The paper, published in PLoS ONE, reports that the monitored portion of the global seabird population decreased overall by 69.7 per cent between 1950 and 2010.

According to Michelle Paleczny, a lead author of the paper, and recent graduate of the zoology program at UBC, these findings likely reflect a global trend because of the large and representative sample. A decline this drastic can cause changes in island and marine ecosystems in which seabirds play a variety of vital roles.

“Decline in seabird abundance stands to disrupt natural processes in island and marine ecosystems in which seabirds play an important role — by acting as predators, scavengers, cross-ecosystem nutrient subsidizers, and ecosystem engineers,” Paleczny says.

In order to investigate global patterns of seabird population data, the researchers assembled a global database of seabird population size records and applied multivariate autoregressive state-space (MARSS) modeling to estimate the global path of all seabird populations with sufficient data. They obtained data from primary sources including journal articles, books, and unpublished reports.

Several human activities are known to threaten seabird populations, including entanglement in fishing gear, overfishing of food sources, climate change, pollution, disturbance, direct exploitation, development, energy production, and introduced species. Seabird populations are strongly affected by threats to marine and coastal ecosystems, and can indicate  the status of marine ecosystem health.

“Knowing this information helps us to measure and assess the overall effect that human activities and threats have had on seabirds and marine ecosystems over time,” Paleczny explains.

You can read the full report here