A Future for Fisheries?

Towards effective strategies for sustainability

Download as iCalendar

On the occasion of the honorary doctorate awarded to DANIEL PAULY at the KULeuven

the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven,  the Royal Museum for Central Africa Tervuren, the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, the Institute for Agricultural & Fisheries Research, and the Flanders Marine Institute

organise the symposium

A FUTURE FOR FISHERIES?

Towards effective strategies for sustainability

The ocean and coastal seas have always been a wealthy source of fish, shellfish and crustaceans. But the increasing efficiency of fishing techniques and the ever increasing scale of the fishing sector outgrew the sustainability of the system. As a result, today’s waters are empty compared to the oceans of the past…

The fisheries biologist Daniel Pauly was one of the first to confront us with the reality of the world-wide overfishing problems. In the course of his scientific career, he developed models and instruments to quantify the far-reaching effects of the fishing industry on the fish stocks and the marine and freshwater ecosystems. It was Pauly who developed the concept of ‘fishing down the foodweb’ describing the phenomenon of the over-exploitation of long-lived predatory fish, like tuna and cod, finally leading to a shift in fishing the smaller pelagic species and invertebrates at lower trophic levels. He is co- founder of the world’s largest online fish encyclopedia ‘FishBase’ and is now leading ‘The Sea Around Us’ project that collects and redistributes world-wide data on marine ecosystems. During his career he published several books and more than 500 scientific papers, of which many in high standing journals like Science and Nature.

On the occasion of the doctorate honoris causa awarded by the KULeuven to Daniel Pauly, a group of outstanding ecosystem management and fisheries scientists are gathered for the Symposium ‘A future for fisheries? Towards effective strategies for sustainability’. The symposium takes place on Tuesday 5 February 2008 (10:00–18:00) at the downtown campus of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium under the patronage of its rector. The aim is to present a state-of-the-art on the dire position of global fisheries resources and discuss the strategies for sustainable development. The issue is approached from different angles: archaeology, econo-ecology, systems biology, fish and fisheries sciences, marine ecosystem biology, and marine law. The presentations (in English) are followed by a discussion on a vision of the future, that will be moderated by the environmental editor Charles Clover (The Telegraph, UK). The conference welcomes academics, science policy makers, professionals, students, journalists and other stakeholders. Attendance is free but registration is compulsory.

PROGRAMME

• 09:30 – 10 :00
• • Registration
• 10:00 – 10:20
• • Introduction
  • Dr Marc Vervenne
  • Rector of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium)
• 10:20 – 11:00
• • The Prehistory of Intensive Sea Fishing
  • Dr James Barrett
  • University of Cambridge – Department of Archeology (UK)
• 11:00 – 11:40
• • Modelling and Measuring the Process of Watershed Change, and Implications for Fisheries
  • Dr Karen Limburg
  • State University of New York – College of Environmental Science and Forestry (USA)
• 11:40 – 12:20
• • The Overlooked Evolutionary Dimension of Modern Fisheries
  • Dr Ulf Dieckmann
  • International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis – Evolution and Ecology Program (Austria)
• 12:30 – 13:30
• • Lunch
• 13:30 – 14:10
• • Integrated Management of Marine Ecosystems and the Role of Marine Protected Areas
  • Dr Han Lindeboom
  • Wageningen IMARES (The Netherlands)
• 14:10 – 14:50
• • Legal Perspectives in Coastal Zone Management
  • Dr Frank Maes
  • Ghent University – Maritime Institute (Belgium)
• 14:50 – 15:30
• • Impact of Fisheries and Global Warming on Marine Ecosystems and Food Security
  • Dr Daniel Pauly
  • University of British Columbia – Fisheries Centre (Canada)
• 15:30 – 16:00
• • Coffee-break
• 16.00 – 17.00
• • Is there a future for fisheries?
  • Panel discussion moderated by Charles Clover
  • Environmental editor (The Telegraph, UK)
• 17:00 – 18:30
• • Reception

Registration is free, but compulsory before 25 January 2007 at info@vliz.be