Instructor: Paul Simonin (simonin@bu.edu)
Course Overview
Marine Fisheries Conservation and Management introduces disciplines and tools required to understand and manage sustainable, resilient, marine fisheries. This course bridges environmental policy, social science, science communication, and ecology, to study solutions to 21st century challenges including overfishing, invasive species, globalized fish trade, and climate change. Working with New England collaborators, we will conduct original research focused on the ecology and/or conservation of an exploited fishery and share our findings with stakeholders.
Learning Objectives
Following this course, students will be able to:
1. Understand the ecological and economic principles underpinning sustainable marine resource use.
2. Understand some of the primary challenges facing sustainable marine fisheries.
3. Apply metrics used to assess and forecast status of harvested fisheries and analyze results to determine sustainability.
4. Apply and evaluate the appropriateness of fisheries management policy options, particularly spatial management regulations.
5. Apply science communication tools used to share research and management information.
6. Understand aquaculture techniques and sustainability considerations.
7. Use basic social science interview techniques, such as those used to interview fishers and other stakeholders, and analyze results.
Fisheries analyses learned:
Bioenergetics // Age & Growth and Length-Age calculations // Stock ID // Mark-Recapture // Growth Models // Production Models // Density Dependence // Stock-Recruitment // Maximum Sustainable Yield // Ecosystem-Based Management
Research framework:
This class is framed around real-world fisheries issues and corresponding data and research which we will conduct collaboratively in Boston or online. Course schedule and scientific outputs subject to change.