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On the second episode of the FishBase and SeaLifeBase Anniversary Podcast, Daniel Pauly talks about some of the rewards and challenges of creating FishBase and turning it into a leading biodiversity information system.
Octopus at a fish market in Indonesia. Photo by Deng Palomares.
Fish market favourites such as orange roughy, common octopus and pink conch are among the species of fish and invertebrates in rapid decline around the world, according to new research.
In the first study of its kind, researchers from the Sea Around Us initiative at UBC, the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and the University of Western Australia assessed the biomass —the weight of a given population in the water— of more than 1,300 fish and invertebrate populations. They discovered global declines, some severe, of many popularly consumed species.
Fishing boats in Brixham harbour, UK. Photo by Dave_S, Flickr.
The United Kingdom has a unique opportunity to start rebuilding its fish stocks by taking advantage of the slowdown in commercial fishing caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing Brexit negotiations that should lead to new policy and legislation.
A new paper by researchers with the University of Southampton, the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research and the Sea Around Us initiative at the University of British Columbia presents a science-based pathway for decision-makers to develop a holistic approach in fisheries management by harnessing the present moment in which threatened stocks are seeing fishing pressure reduced to levels not seen since World War II.
FishBase was born 30 years ago and SeaLifeBase 15 years ago.
The processes and efforts behind the creation of these two databases have been complex and enormous, involving dozens of staff members and thousands of collaborators.
The year 2020 marks the 30th anniversary of FishBase and the 15th anniversary of SeaLifeBase, two online global biodiversity information systems that, together, provide biological and ecological information on more than 110,000 marine species.