The world’s oceans are rapidly warming and acidifying due to climate change. Global overfishing and massive underreporting of catches are putting world fish populations in peril. How close are the planet’s fisheries to collapse? What can be done to alter this dangerous trajectory?

Dr. Daniel Pauly is a world-renowned fisheries scientist—in fact, Canada’s most cited scientist—whose expertise concerns the condition and future of the world's oceans. He joins the Salt Spring Forum for an urgent and highly informative conversation on Friday, May 5th at 7:30 PM at Beaver Point Hall.

Dr. Pauly became a Professor at the University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre in 1994, and was its Director from 2003 to 2008. Since 1999, he has led a large research project devoted to identifying and quantifying global fisheries trends, called Sea Around Us.

The author or co-author of over 1000 publications, Dr. Pauly has received some of the world’s most prestigious scientific awards. He is the co-founder of FishBase.org, the online encyclopedia of more than 30,000 fish species, and helped develop the widely-used Ecopath modeling software.

Through his research, Dr. Pauly has found that the global fisheries catch is 50 percent higher than reported. With official numbers so distressingly off target, this inaccurate data masks how close world fisheries are close to collapse. Indeed, fish populations are in rapid decline—all over the world.

What can be done to address these problems? How can we help?

Salt Spring residents are invited to join Dr. Daniel Pauly for an important conversation about the sea around us.

Tickets are available at ArtSpring – 250.537.2102 and http://www.tickets.artspring.ca – and Salt Spring Books. $15 – 2017 Forum Members; $20 – General Public. (Students and low-income residents contact saltspringforum@gmail.com) Seating is limited: Please buy your tickets now!