From Simon Fraser University:

Continuing Studies in Science is pleased to invite you to attend a free lecture of the Speaking of Science Lecture Series presented by Dr. John Reynolds,

Fisheries and extinction risk: insights from the fundamentals of fish ecology
Thursday November 17, 2005 at 7:00pm
Simon Fraser University Vancouver
515 West Hastings St., Vancouver, Room 7000

Please visit our website for more information.

To guarantee a seat please make a reservation by telephoning 604-291-5100.

Abstract
The profound ecological and economic consequences of over-fishing have led to serious reappraisals of the way we should manage fisheries. The traditional concern has been that over-exploited fisheries produce low yields. However, growing concerns about ecological impacts include the possibility that fisheries could drive species toward biological extinction. Many commercially important species have declined by more than 90%, and some have disappeared over large parts of their ranges. Will they become extinct? This issue has been controversial, as shown during proposals to list Atlantic cod and some Pacific salmon stocks as threatened with extinction under Canada’s new Species at Risk Act. How can we bridge the gap between “traditional” fisheries management concerns and new attempts to assess the risk of extinction of fish species? Broad comparisons from regional to global scales are helping us predict how different species respond to fishing mortality, based on fundamental ecological and biological characteristics. The findings are improving our understanding of why some fisheries succeed and others fail. They are also helping us to improve on the way we assess extinction risk, by identifying key biological traits that are correlated with severe collapses and disappearance of populations. This is important not only for commercial fisheries, but also for the vast majority of the world’s fish species that have little direct economic value, but which may be threatened by our varied impacts on aquatic habitats.

Biography
This fall, Dr John Reynolds is beginning a Professorship in the Department of Biological Sciences at Simon Fraser University. Dr Reynolds’ new research program focuses on conservation and management of Pacific salmon and their ecosystems, including connections between marine, freshwater and terrestrial habitats.

Dr Reynolds obtained his PhD in 1991, having divided his time between Simon Fraser University and the University of Toronto. This was followed by postdoctoral research at Oxford and a faculty position at the University of East Anglia in the UK before he was lured back to SFU. Dr Reynolds has published 4 books on fisheries and conservation, and was awarded the medal of the Fisheries Society of the British Isles in 2001 and the Stevenson Award of the Canadian Conference of Fish Research in 2003.

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