WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — October 23, 2013 — In this installment of Saving Seafood Radio, Dr. Olaf P. Jensen, assistant professor at the Rutgers University Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, discusses research from his global fisheries research database that dispels misconceptions that depleted stocks cannot recover.
The RAM Legacy Stock Assessment Database, which was rolled out in 2012 by Dr. Jensen and fisheries scientists at the University of Washington and Dalhousie University, offers detailed information on the global estimated abundance of fish stocks and fishing levels over time. Dr. Jensen has used this collection of information to examine the effectiveness of fisheries management techniques, including the impacts of the catch shares program.
His data indicates that once fishing mortality rates are reduced sufficiently, depleted populations tend to rebound, as long as environmental factors are not contributing to the decline. This research sheds new light on the resiliency of fish populations and contradicts the notion that stocks reach a “point of no return” from overfishing.
Using the tools developed by Dr. Jensen, fisheries scientists around the world are able to access and contribute to the stock assessment database. Now scientists who are examining a particular stock can use data from similar fisheries in other parts of the world to guide their research. Dr. Jensen’s efforts will hopefully improve future stock assessments and collaborative research efforts on a global scale.
Listen to the full interview with Dr. Olaf Jensen
Read more about Dr. Jensen’s work in this article that appeared in the Providence Journal