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Seafood Watch Hosts New Science Advisory Board
SEAFOOD WATCH CONVENES SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD;
EXPERTS TO EXPLORE FUTURE CHALLENGES
The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program has always considered accurate and up-to-date science to be at the core of its work and essential to the program’s credibility. Key to the successes that have made the program the most recognized sustainable seafood resource in the U.S. is its collaborations with respected external experts.
On June 27, Seafood Watch will convene its new Science Advisory Board – leading scientists who were recruited to help guide the science behind the program. The 13-member advisory board comprises individuals primarily from distinguished marine science programs at top universities across the U.S.
“The science advisory board is divided between expertise in wild-capture fisheries and aquaculture,” said Dr. Tom Pickerell, senior science manager for Seafood Watch. “The challenges are quite distinct between these two focal areas. For example, we’d like our fisheries experts to explore how our criteria might best be adapted to accommodate evolving science on an ecosystem-based management approach. Our aquaculture advisors will discuss the ongoing strategy of aquaculture within the Seafood Watch program.”
2012-2014 science advisory board members are:
- Dr. Daniel Benetti: Professor and Director of Aquaculture, University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science;
- Dr. Jim Diana: Professor and Director of Michigan Sea Grant, University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Environment;
- Dr. Carole Engle: Professor and Director of the Aquaculture/Fisheries Center at the University of Arkansas;
- Dr. Sandra E. Shumway: Research Professor, University of Connecticut;
- Dr. Albert Tacon: Technical Director at Aquatic Farms Ltd.;
- Dr. Wade O. Watanabe: Research Professor, Center for Marine Science, Aquaculture Program Coordinator, University of North Carolina Wilmington;
- Dr. Christopher Costello: Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics, Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California Santa Barbara;
- Dr. Larry Crowder: Science Director, Center for Ocean Solutions. Professor of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Senior Fellow, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University;
- Dr. Chris Glass: Director, Northeast Consortium and Research Professor, Ocean Process Analysis Laboratory of the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space, University of New Hampshire;
- Dr. Christopher Harrold: Director of Conservation Research, Monterey Bay Aquarium;
- Dr. James Lindholm: James W. Rote Distinguished Professor of Marine Science and Policy, founding director of the Institute for Applied Marine Ecology, California State University Monterey Bay;
- Dr. Ellen Pikitch: Professor and Executive Director of the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science, Stony Brook University; and
- Dr. Cathy Roheim: Professor and Department Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, University of Idaho.
The first meeting of the science advisory board in Monterey will focus on the existing strategies of Seafood Watch and create a series of working groups to explore key issues – either within the program, or in the constantly evolving landscape of fisheries and fish farming.
“It’s critical for us to have access to outside expertise in this way,” said Seafood Watch program director Jennifer Kemmerly. “Our program has to stay current to remain relevant. We are constantly reviewing our methodology and criteria.”
“Our science underpins our entire program, and to a large extent, the broader sustainable seafood movement,” she added. “The science advisory board will challenge us to think about how we work, and will strengthen the science behind the tools we use to move the market in favor of seafood both from sustainable and improving sources.”
The mission of the Monterey Bay Aquarium is to inspire conservation of the oceans.
Full biographies of science advisory board members available upon request.
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