The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens

Titanic Oceans: Daniel Pauly, Antonio Turiel, Peter Ward | Reality Roundtable #04

Sep 10, 2023

Marine biologist Daniel Pauly, ocean physicist Antonio Turiel, and paleobiologist Peter Ward discuss threats to the Earth’s oceans, from overfishing and plastic pollution to climate change and acidification. They explore the impact of industrial fishing, rising ocean temperatures, and the possibility of a Canfield ocean. The speakers also address the negative consequences of tuna fattening operations and overfishing on the ocean's food web. They emphasize the urgent need to preserve the ocean and address climate change for food security and peace.

01:30:01

Creator website

Episode guests

Peter Ward

Antonio Turiel

Daniel Pauly

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Highlights

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Overfishing driven by subsidies is depleting fish populations, eliminating these subsidies could promote sustainable fishing practices.

Establishing marine protected areas in the high seas can help protect marine biodiversity and restore fish populations.

Restoring fish populations in the ocean could enhance its natural carbon sink capacity and mitigate climate change.

Deep dives

Subsidies and overfishing

One key issue in the world's oceans is overfishing, largely driven by subsidies given to industrial fishing fleets. These subsidies maintain unsustainable fishing practices and contribute to the decline of fish stocks worldwide. Eliminating these subsidies could help restore fish populations and promote sustainable fishing practices.

The Potential Catastrophic Consequences of AMOC Interruption

01:36

The Problem With the Ocean

01:23

The Pros and Cons of Climate Change

01:22

The Wind Are Diminishing Over All Globally

01:19

Introduction

3min

Industrial Fishing and the Role of Subsidies

8min

Accelerating Concerns About the Oceans

27min

The Factors Influencing Ocean Temperature and Heat Accumulation

10min

Canfield Ocean and Past Mass Extinctions

11min

The Impact of Tuna Fattening Operations and Mafia Control on Marine Life

4min

The Ocean Food Web and Overfishing

22min

The Urgent Need to Preserve the Ocean and Address Climate Change

6min

On this Reality Roundtable, marine biologist Daniel Pauly, ocean physicist Antonio Turiel, and paleobiologist Peter Ward join Nate to discuss the numerous oft-overlooked threats to the Earth’s great oceans. From overfishing and plastic pollution to climate change and acidification, the human system is assaulting one of the most important regulators for our climate and the largest habitat for life - anywhere. What early indicators of climate impacts are these great bodies of water showing us as we hit record heat across the oceans, fish populations dwindle, and major currents slow? Why are concerns for the ocean so overlooked and what further research needs to be done? Will we learn to value these high seas for all the priceless value they give us, or will we take them for granted until it’s too late?

About Daniel Pauly

Dr. Daniel Pauly is a Killam Professor at the University of British Columbia. In 1999, Daniel Pauly founded, and since leads, a large research project, Sea Around Us, devoted to identifying and quantifying global fisheries trends. Daniel Pauly is also co-founder of FishBase.org, the online encyclopedia of more than 30,000 fish species, and he has helped develop the widely-used Ecopath modeling software. He is the author or co-author of over 1000 scientific and other articles, books and book chapters on fish, fisheries and related topics.

About Antonio Turiel

Antonio Turiel Martínez is a scientist and activist with a degree in Physics and Mathematics and a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the Autonomous University of Madrid. He works as a senior scientist at the Institute of Marine Sciences of the CSIC specializing in remote sensing, turbulence, sea surface salinity, water cycle, sea surface temperature, sea surface currents, and chlorophyll concentration. He has written more than 80 scientific articles, but he is better known as an online activist and editor of The Oil Crash blog, where he addresses sensitive issues about the depletion of conventional fossil fuel resources, such as the peak of oil and its possible implications on a world scale.

About Peter Ward

Peter Ward is a Professor of Biology and Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington. He is author of over a dozen books on Earth's natural history including On Methuselah's Trail: Living Fossils and the Great Extinctions; Under a Green Sky; and The Medea Hypothesis, 2009, (listed by the New York Times as one of the “100 most important ideas of 2009”). Ward gave a TED talk in 2008 about mass extinctions.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tSgPQyq_jyE

More information & show notes: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/rr04-pauly-turiel-ward