28 August 2008

Talented young scientists: Jennifer Jacquet


Born and raised in Ohio, a state without oceans, Jennifer spent her childhood pining over manatees in the pages of the WWF magazine for children. As an undergraduate, Jennifer volunteered with the conservation vigilante Sea Shepherd International and, aboard the Sirenian, helped patrol the Galapagos Marine Reserve for illegal shark poaching. She was also an intern for the Florida Marine Research Institute studying those pined-over gentle giants: the manatees (the body of Fred Flintstone, the grace of Fred Astaire).

Jennifer joined the Sea Around Us Project to work on catch reconstructions for small-scale fisheries in the developing world (e.g. seafood security) and some aspects of the seafood market in the developed world (e.g. seafood eco-marketing). She also runs the Shifting Baselines weblog.



The portrait above and a list of publications by Jennifer Jacquet can be found in the UBC Fisheries Centre web site.

I particularly like Jennifer's most recent work, an impressively documented overview of the marine fisheries crisis with a wink at The Talking Heads:
Jacquet, J. In press. Silent Water: A Brief Examination of the Marine Fisheries Crisis. Environment, Development, and Sustainability.

Another of her interesting articles questions eco-labelling and its presumed advantages - definitely worth reading:
Jacquet, J. L. and D. Pauly. 2007. The rise of consumer awareness campaigns in an era of collapsing fisheries. Marine Policy 31: 308-313.

Giovanni Bearzi

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