Dr. Daniel Pauly

A French citizen by birth—Paris, 1946—Dr. Daniel Pauly is known around the world as a trailblazer for ocean sciences. Since receiving his doctorate from the University of Kiel, Germany, Dr. Pauly has spent his life learning about ocean ecosystems and finding ways to make sense of the waves of data he and his colleagues collect.

In July 1979, Dr. Pauly joined the International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM) in Manila, Philippines. Faced with trying to help data-poor fisheries manage fish stocks, he developed novel methods—most notably the “Pauly Equation”—that allowed managers to use readily available data to calculate sustainable catches. During his 15 years at ICLARM, Dr. Pauly also co-developed two essential fishery management tools: FishBase, an online database containing information on fish around the globe, and Ecopath, an ecosystem modeling program.

In 1994, Dr. Pauly became a tenured professor at the Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia and in based institution. He currently serves as the principal investigator of the Sea Around Us Project at the Fisheries Centre, where his global, multi-year analyses of marine ecosystems has allowed him to reach startling and important conclusions—most critical among them that fish populations are declining rapidly all over the world.

Dr. Pauly’s significance in ocean studies has been recognized by profiles in various publications (notably Science, April, 2002; Nature, January 2003; The New York Times, January 2003), his numerous research awards and myriad speaking engagements.

“Daniel’s impact on the field and working scientists has been enormous, and it has been an honor to have him as the chair of Oceana’s Science Advisory Board,” observes Oceana’s Chief Scientist and Senior Vice President for North America, Mike Hirshfield. “Ocean conservation would be much, much harder if we didn’t have Daniel’s work to guide us.”