BISC 599,
Food from the Sea
Spring Semester 2012
Instructors:
Dennis Hedgecock, AHF 130, 1-2091, dhedge@usc.edu
Dale Kiefer, AHF 342, kiefer@physics.usc.edu
Course Overview: This advanced seminar, which is intended primarily for students in the
Graduate Program for Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography, will cover major
developments in the status of living marine resources, which are undergoing profound changes.
World capture fisheries have been on a plateau since the 1980s, and their collapse by the middle
of this century has been predicted by some scientists. World supply of living marine resources
has been increasing thanks only to a rapid, global expansion of aquaculture, since the 1970s.
Today, aquaculture provides more than 50% of fish and shellfish consumed by humans, yet the
sustainability of aquaculture is questioned and heavily criticized by some segments of the
environmental community. The course, which will be offered in a lecture/journal club format,
will cover these major trends and explore the way forward, particularly the gaps in scientific
knowledge that constrain management and conservation.
Each student will be required to lead discussion of at least one set of weekly readings. The
student presentation will be based on outside readings, to be assigned in consultation with the
instructors, and should describe the state of the field prior to the work read; the questions
addressed by the authors; their methods, data, and conclusions; a critique of the strengths and
weaknesses of the work; what questions remain; and how these could be addressed.
By the week of February 27th, students will identify a paper published within the previous year,
about which they will write a detailed critique (three pages, single-spaced). A rough draft of the
critique will be due the week of March 26th, with the final draft due at the last class.
Grading: Letter grading
Participation 10%
Presentation 40% (example 2 @ 20% ea.)
Final Paper 50%
Location: TBD
Statement for Students with Disabilities
Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register
with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved
accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me (or to
TA) as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m.–5:00
p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.
Statement on Academic Integrity
USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment. General principles of academic honesty
include the concept of respect for the intellectual property of others, the expectation that
individual work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an instructor, and the obligations
both to protect one’s own academic work from misuse by others as well as to avoid using
another’s work as one’s own. All students are expected to understand and abide by these
principles. Scampus, the Student Guidebook, contains the Student Conduct Code in Section
11.00,
while
the
recommended
sanctions
are
located
in
Appendix
A:
http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications/SCAMPUS/gov/. Students will be referred to the Office of
Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards for further review, should there be any
Week
1
Date
Jan 9
Readings
Ryther, J. 1969. Photosynthesis and fish production in the sea. Science
Pauley, D. et al. 1998. Fishing down marine food webs. Science
2
Jan 16
Myers RA, Worm B. 2003. Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory
fish communities. Nature 423:280-283.
Hampton J, Siebert JR, Kleiber P, Maunder MN, Harley SJ. 2005.
Decline of Pacific tuna populations exaggerated? Nature 434:E1-E2.
3
Jan 23
Worm B, et al. 2006. Impacts of biodiversity loss on ocean ecosystem
services. Science 314(5800)787-790.
4
Jan 30
Hillborn R. 2006. Faith-based fisheries. Fisheries 31(11)554-555.
5
Feb 6
Longhurst A. 2007. Doubt and certainty in fishery science: Are we
really headed for a global collapse of stocks? Fisheries Research 86:15.
6
Feb 13
Beddington JR, DJ Agnew, and CW Clark. 2007. Current problems in
the management of marine fisheries. Science 316:1713-1716.
7
Feb 20
Costello C, SD Gaines, and J Lynham. 2008. Can catch shares prevent
fisheries collapse? Science 321:1678-1681.
8
Feb 27
Worm, B., et al. 2009. Rebuilding Global Fisheries. Science 325, 578
9
Mar 5
Naylor et al 2000 Effect of aquaculture on world fish supplies. Nature
Naylor et al. 2001 Science Aquaculture -- a gateway for exotic species
Mar 12 - 16: Spring Break
10
Mar 19
Pauly D et al. 2002 Towards sustainability in world fisheries
Nature 418: 689-695
11
Mar 26
Halpern BS, Walbridge S, Selkoe KA, et al. 2008. A global map of
human impact on marine ecosystems. Science 319: 948-952.
12
Apr 2
Tacon & Metian 2008. Global overview on the use of fish meal and
fish oil in industrially compounded aquafeeds: Trends and future
Instructor/Presenter
Week
Date
Readings
prospects. Aquaculture
Tacon & Metian 2009 Fishing for feed or fishing for food:
Increasing global competition for small
pelagic forage fish. Ambio
13
Apr 9
14
Apr 16
15
Apr 23
Naylor, RL et al 2009 Feeding aquaculture in an era of finite resources.
PNAS
Hedgecock, D. 2011. Aquaculture: the next wave of domestication. In
Biodiversity in Agriculture: Domestication, Evolution, and
Sustainability
Instructor/Presenter