New Approaches to Sustainable Fisheries: May 14, 2009

World Wildlife Fund’s Kathryn Fuller Science for Nature Seminar Series

Dr. Douglas N. Rader
Chief Ocean Scientist
Environmental Defense Fund

Date: May 14th, 2009

Time: 4:30-5:30pm (lecture); 5:30-6:30pm (reception)

Admission: FREE!!

Registration: http://www.worldwildlife.org/science/fellowships/fuller/item1816.html

Location: World Wildlife Fund Headquarters
1250 24th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
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Abundant Oceans: New Approaches to Sustainable Fisheries

The history of marine conservation is littered with "silver bullets" that lost their "bang" -- ecosystem-based management is perhaps the most recent casualty. The newest star in the lineup is catch shares, a system of fisheries management tools that meet science-based conservation targets by allocating proportional management responsibility to fishermen (or groups of fishermen) and creating incentives to enhance that proportion, like money in the bank. Recent studies in top-level science publications have documented the success of individual transferable quotas and other types of catch shares in fisheries around the world. With the change of administration, an important opportunity exists to assure that catch share systems fulfill their potential in the United States and elsewhere to emplace sustainable commercial fisheries, as a necessary but not sufficient piece of the oceans puzzle. Further challenges loom, including the development of new deepwater fisheries, the meteoric rise of recreational fishing, the awakening of new uses beyond fishing in oceanic waters around the world, and , of course, new threats associated with warming and rising seas, intensifying storms and acidification associated with global warming. However, finally getting fishing right will be a significant down payment on a more robust and resilient future ocean.

Abbreviated Biography
Dr. Douglas Rader advises the leadership of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) on the scientific aspects of policies and programs affecting oceans. He works with EDF’s national and regional teams to leverage cutting-edge science in current oceans program projects and emerging ocean issues. Previously, Doug led efforts to protect and restore the marine and estuarine ecosystems of the U.S. Mid-Atlantic and Southeast and Caribbean. His efforts included stronger fisheries management policies and programs that align conservation with the business of fishing, improved coastal habitat protection programs, and science-based networks of marine protected areas.

Since 1984, Doug has worked to protect wetlands, water quality, and coastal and marine resources in the Southeast. His efforts contributed to the 1997 N.C. Marine Fishery Reform Act. He is currently chair of the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council’s Habitat and Environmental Protection Advisory Panel. In addition, Doug is a, co-chair of the Offshore Energy exploration Study Committee of the North Carolina General Assembly and the North Carolina River Herring Advisory Committee. Doug is a member of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council Marine Protected Area Advisory Panel. He formerly served as the chair of the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission Habitat and Water Quality Standing Advisory Committee Planning and Permits Subcommittee and was a former member of the Warren Wilson Environmental Leadership Center Advisory Council. He worked previously as director of the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine Study, and in the N.C. Division of Environmental Management and the N.C. Division of Coastal Management.

Doug has a Ph.D. in biology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, an M.S. in zoology from the University of Washington, and a B.S. in biology from UNC-Chapel Hill.