On July 1, 2024, the Sea Around Us initiative based at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries will turn 25.
Still in its young adult years, the project’s accomplishments are no small feat.
Tag: Daniel Pauly
Forty-year-old concepts around fish respiration regain prominence in light of climate change
Common carp. Photo by Bernard Spragg. NZ, Wikimedia Commons.
Before Dr. Daniel Pauly, now the principal investigator of the Sea Around Us initiative at the University of British Columbia, became a doctoral student, he spent two years doing fisheries work in Indonesia.
Having done his academic studies in Germany, he was surprised to discover a near absence of information on the growth of tropical fish. Thus, upon his return to Kiel University’s Institute of Marine Sciences, he decided to find out how fish grew; the idea was that if general patterns emerged, they could be applied to the many species in Indonesia and elsewhere in the tropics.
His doctoral dissertation was, consequently, built around identifying the factors that govern fish growth.
Marine sharks and rays ‘use’ urea to delay reproduction
Blacktip reef shark. Photo by Ray in Manila, Flickr.
Urea – the main component of human urine – plays an important role in the timing of maturation of sharks, rays and other cartilaginous fish.
A new study by researchers with the Sea Around Us initiative at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries found that high urea concentrations common in cartilaginous fish, particularly oviparous marine species, allow them to mature and begin to reproduce at a larger fraction of their maximal size.
Respiratory stress response that stunts temperate fish also affects coral reef fish
Gray snappers in Santa Cruz Beach. Photo by Laszlo Ilyes, Wikimedia Commons.
Coral reef fish –like the fish in other marine and freshwater ecosystems – are likely to reach smaller maximum sizes and start reproducing earlier with smaller and fewer eggs as climate change continues to warm up the ocean.
A tiny fish reclaims its space in the Sea Around Us database
Stolephorus indicus or Indian anchovy. Image by Hamid Badar Osmany, FishBase.
A recent Fisheries Centre Research Report reviews two Indo-Pacific anchovy genera (Encrasicholina and Stolephorus) with respect to their fisheries, contribution to food security and as important baitfish for tropical pole-and-line fisheries.