Acceptance speech by Daniel Pauly, winner of the 2019 Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Conservation Biology, who was honored alongside Carlos Duarte and Terence Hughes for their contributions to understanding, protecting and conserving the oceans. His research has made it possible to assess the impact of industrial fishing on marine ecosystems through the development of scientific models and open-access tools, such as FishBase and Sea Around Us, which are essential for studying fish populations and promoting sustainable fisheries management.
Pauly reflects on the need to understand fishing as a global system and reviews the origins of his research, from his early fieldwork to the creation of large international databases. He explains how reconstructing fisheries statistics revealed that global catches were substantially higher than official records indicated and had been de
Acceptance speech by Daniel Pauly, winner of the 2019 Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Conservation Biology, who was honored alongside Carlos Duarte and Terence Hughes for their contributions to understanding, protecting and conserving the oceans. His research has made it possible to assess the impact of industrial fishing on marine ecosystems through the development of scientific models and open-access tools, such as FishBase and Sea Around Us, which are essential for studying fish populations and promoting sustainable fisheries management.
Pauly reflects on the need to understand fishing as a global system and reviews the origins of his research, from his early fieldwork to the creation of large international databases. He explains how reconstructing fisheries statistics revealed that global catches were substantially higher than official records indicated and had been declining since the mid-1990s. He also discusses the effects of ocean warming on fish distribution and their movement towards the poles, highlighting the importance of accessible scientific information for understanding and addressing these changes.
