Award honours career in fisheries management research
Randall Peterman, on sabbatical but available by email: Peterman@sfu.ca
Marianne Meadahl, PAMR, 778.782.3210
Photo available:
Websites:
http://www.rem.sfu.ca/faculty/peterman
Research: http://www.rem.sfu.ca/fishgrp
Simon Fraser University professor Randall Peterman will be recognized this week with a prestigious award from the Vancouver Aquarium for a career dedicated to research in fisheries science and management.
But he won’t be receiving the Murray A. Newman Award for significant achievement in aquatic research without singing the praises of his graduate students and research assistants, both past and present, who have given their ideas, time and polish to his nearly 40 years of research – and to whom he has been a dedicated mentor.
“These young scientists have brought enthusiasm, fresh ideas, and new quantitative skills to our group’s research efforts,” Peterman says. “They have been significant contributors to our collective research accomplishments. Without them, this award would not have come my way."
The Burnaby resident and SFU teaching award recipient (1990) will be honored at a ceremony on Jan. 19.
Peterman holds a Canada Research Chair in Fisheries Risk Assessment and Management in SFU’s School of Resource and Environmental Management and specializes in quantitative methods to improve management of fisheries, mostly for Pacific salmon.
His focus is on fish population dynamics and he has pioneered approaches for quantifying and reducing uncertainties that affect conservation risks and management decisions. The impact of his research and teaching in risk assessment and decision analysis often extends beyond fisheries to water resources and wildlife management.
Currently Peterman is also working to better understand variations in the survival of salmon in the ocean, particularly as it is affected by climate.
He says the involvement of young researchers in tackling critical issues helps to produce problem solvers of the future.
The quality of research from Peterman's group is attested to by several international awards, including recognition for journal papers that were senior-authored by young scientists in his group, including best paper awards from the North American Journal of Fisheries Management, the American Institute of Fisheries Research Biologists and the Transactions of the American Fisheries Society.
“Many now occupy influential positions in federal management agencies in Canada and the U.S., including the B.C. government, universities, environmental consulting companies, B.C. Hydro, and non-governmental organizations,” he adds.
Peterman has served on more than 25 scientific panels over the course of his career, including a current expert panel that was established by the Royal Society of Canada to examine the future of Canadian marine biodiversity.
Peterman has served on various policy advisory groups and helped write the 1995 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Precautionary Approach to Capture Fisheries. Most recently he chaired a 2010 Expert Panel for the Pacific Salmon Commission looking at evidence for causes of the decline of Fraser River sockeye salmon.
The award was established as a tribute to Murray A. Newman, founding director of the Vancouver Aquarium.