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Callum Roberts: An understanding of our past can help ensure a healthy future for the oceans

Callum Roberts can tell you what the oceans looked like hundreds of years ago. The story—one of vibrant coral reefs, abundant fish leaping in the surf, and open waters teeming with sea turtles and big predators—might leave you shaking your head in disbelief. It is an image that stands, after all, in stark contrast to the relatively empty seas that cover three quarters of our planet now.

Though the story is rich in detail, the large-scale collapse of the world’s fisheries can ultimately be traced to the influence of just one species: Homo sapiens. Roberts, a professor of marine conservation at the University of York, UK and the newest addition to SeaWeb’s Board of Directors, has spent the last five years collecting historical accounts from explorers, fishermen, and researchers for his book, The Unnatural History of the Sea, published this summer by Island Press. The storytellers quoted in the book’s pages would scarcely recognize the oceans of today; indeed, as recently as fifty years ago, many believed the oceans to be a limitless source of food and treasure.

Though today’s situation might seem bleak, Roberts is an optimist. In the book’s preface, he warns his readers not to view the account as a “requiem for the sea.” Rather, by outlining the promise of marine reserves and fisheries reform, Roberts hopes to galvanize fisheries officials, policy makers, and the public into taking action. In documenting what has been lost as a result of our social choices, he contends that it is entirely within our power to reverse the fortunes of the ocean.

Roberts was not always an impassioned conservationist. At one time, he held the notion that to be a marine scientist, one must spend their days on the fish-covered deck of a North Sea trawler, buffeted by icy winds. Then a trip to the coral reefs of Saudi Arabia opened his eyes to a new and fantastic world, and lit a spark that fuels him to this day. Once focused on studying the behavior of herbivorous reef fishes, he now pursues a broad range of interests centered on how humans affect marine ecosystems. He is an outspoken advocate of marine reserves, and has studied their effectiveness—both in theory and in practice—since the early 1990s.

Roberts has contributed to the Marine Reserves Working Group at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, led by Jane Lubchenco (Oregon State University), Steve Palumbi (Stanford University), and Steve Gaines (UC Santa Barbara), which focuses on developing the theory of marine reserves. Roberts is also involved with the U.S. National Research Council Committee on Evaluation, Design and Monitoring of Marine Reserves, which gathers data about reserves and identifies research priorities based on this information. Roberts and his colleagues believe that such efforts are essential to advancing the science of reserves, which they hope will in turn lead to more widespread implementation of reserves and protected areas.

To study reserves in the field, Roberts has remained true to his original passion: coral reefs. For the past 16 years, he has made yearly censuses of reef fish and other reef species on the Caribbean island of Saba, where a marine reserve coupled with broader coastal management initiatives has managed to shield the island’s reefs from further degradation. On the island of St. Lucia, also in the Caribbean, Roberts has undertaken a long-term study of the island’s well-developed reserve system. In 1995, the island began an ambitious coastal management program intended to rehabilitate its overexploited reef fisheries, while smoothing over conflicts between fishermen and the island’s nascent tourism industry. In a bold and largely unprecedented move, the island protected 35% of its reefs with fully protected, “no-take” reserves closed to all fishing. The results so far have been promising, with increases in biomass both inside and outside the reserves.

In addition to his work with marine reserves, Roberts has worked with the Coral Reef Fish Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) to develop global biodiversity maps of reef fishes and other reef animals. These maps have revealed the small geographic ranges and unique life history characteristics that render many reef species vulnerable to extinction, and have also shown that many of them are more at risk than previously suspected. But the maps have borne some good news as well, including a detailed picture as to where conservation efforts might be most effective.

In 2000, Roberts was awarded a Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation to address obstacles to the implementation of marine reserves, and in 2001 he was awarded a Hardy Fellowship in Conservation Biology at Harvard University.

Photo Credits: Island Press