Ocean optimism: Is there really hope for our seas?
Public awareness of our oceans and the threats they face has probably never been as high as it is today. Just over a year ago, Blue Planet 2 kept us spellbound by bringing the wonders of deep into people’s homes like never before, but then brought us back down to Earth by highlighting the dangers of overfishing, plastic pollution and climate change. News headlines regularly warn about how we will run out of fish by mid-century, if ocean warming doesn’t cook them, or ocean acidification doesn’t dissolve them, first! While these threats are real, if sometimes exaggerated, there seems to be much less focus on how to tackle them. In this talk, Bryce will present stories from both his own research and others about how scientists, conservationists and coastal communities are slowly turning the tide. The ocean belongs to all of us, so we all have a role to play in helping to ensure it has a sustainable future. We hope this talk will inspire you to believe that there really is cause for ocean optimism, if we all pull together.
Speaker – Bryce D. Stewart, Department of Environment and Geography, University of York
Bryce is a marine ecologist and fisheries biologist whose work has ranged from temperate estuaries to tropical coral reefs and the deep-sea. He gained a BSc(Hons) in Zoology from the University of Melbourne, and a PhD in marine biology from James Cook University, before moving to the United Kingdom in 1999. The central thread in his research has been to gain an increased understanding of the factors regulating marine populations and communities so as to ensure their sustainable utilisation. Most recently his focus has been on how to improve the management of fisheries and marine ecosystems by using predictive models, marine protected areas and by reducing discards. Since 2016 he has been particularly involved with assessing the effects of Brexit on UK fisheries and the marine environment, helping to inform reforms of management by working with a wide range of stakeholders and the Government.
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Next Marine Life Talk
28 March – Madagascar: a new hotspot for endangered whale sharks – speaker: Stella Diamant, marine biologist
This is an extra talk for March as the speaker won't be in the UK on the usual dates.
The Marine Life Talks are usually held on the first Thursday of each month (except in January) at 7pm in the Henry Charnock Lecture Theatre, National Oceanography Centre. When you arrive, please sign-in outside the lecture theatre on level four.