The tale of the pregnant male: from seahorse sex to global policy change

Amanda VINCENT
Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Canada, acjvincent@gmail.com
 

(Seminar in English)

As well as studying pressing ocean concerns, Amanda Vincent and her Project Seahorse team mobilize conservation action to improve the status of marine species and habitats. Amanda is actively involved in biological and social research, empowering local communities, establishing marine protected areas, managing small-scale fisheries, restructuring international trade, promoting integrated policy, and advancing environmental understanding. She has a particular affinity for behavioral ecology, and is happiest studying animals in the wild… even though much of her time is now spent in policy arenas.  Using the quirky seahorses as her flagship animals, Amanda and Project Seahorse have managed to effect measurable gains in ocean conservation, a story she will tell today. For this she has been given honours such as the Rolex Award for Enterprise and a Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation, the top award in the field. She serves as Chair of the IUCN marine conservation subcommittee, among other international roles. New priorities include supporting front line conservationists in developing countries, addressing annihilation trawling and turning citizen scientists into citizen conservationists. Dr. Vincent is visiting CEFE on sabbatical until July 2018.

Recent publications:

Selgrath, J.C., S.E. Gergel and A.C.J. Vincent. 2018. Shifting gears: Diversification, intensification, and effort increases in small-scale fisheries (1950-2010). PLoS One. [to be published on 14 March]

Vincent, A.C.J. and S.F. Foster. 2017. Setting precedent in export regulations for marine fishes with seahorses. Fisheries 42(1):40-43

Zhang, X. and A.C.J. Vincent. 2017. Integrating multiple data sets with species distribution models to inform conservation of the poorly-recorded Chinese seahorses. Biological Conservation 211: 161-171.