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  Cadrin leads sustainability forum

March 15, 2013

SMAST Professor Steve Cadrin chaired the third annual "Science and Sustainability Forum" last week at the International Seafood Show in Boston. The Ocean Trust, an ocean conservation foundation, working with the American Institute for Fishery Research Biologists, convened a panel of top fisheries scientists and managers to provide a global review on the status of stocks and to address misconceptions on seafood sustainability.

Seafood consumers are barraged these days by various advisories as to what species to buy and not buy, the merits of "farmed" fish vs. wild-caught, what fisheries are "sustainable" vs. unsustainable, etc.  The Sustainability Forum is organized to replace misconceptions with the best scientific knowledge available, for the particular benefit of seafood buyers.  A summary of the forum's conclusions is available on line.

  Scientists urge government: Work with EU

March 15, 2013

In a March 11th letter to the nation's top science administrators, two SMAST professors are among thirteen distinguished U.S. fishery scientists advocating for close cooperation with the European Union on North Atlantic fisheries issues.  The letter spoke of a "time-critical opportunity to join forces to protect key marine ecosystem elements that are most at risk as the sea changes."

Drs. Kevin Stokesbury (left in photo) and Steven Cadrin and colleagues told the heads of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, National Science Foundation, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that their counterparts in the European Union are proposing to expand transatlantic research cooperation.  The administrators were urged to attend an upcoming meeting "to plan next steps in developing such an alliance."

  SMAST professor, student awarded at Aquaculture 2013

February 28, 2013                                                                                                      

Prof. Kevin Stokesbury, Chair of the Department of Fisheries Oceanography, was presented with the David H. Wallace Award from the National Shellfisheries Association at the Aquaculture 2013 meeting in Nashville last weekend. The award is given "to individuals whose activities in shellfisheries, aquaculture and conservation have promoted understanding, knowledge, and cooperation among industry members, the academic community, and government … ."

At the same meeting, Prof. Stokesbury's graduate student Jonathan Carey, was named first runner-up for best student paper published in the Journal of Shellfish Research in 2012.  The cited paper was "An assessment of juvenile and adult sea scallope, Placopecten magellanicus, distribution in the northwest Atlantic using high-resolution still imagery," co-authored by Stokesbury.