Bioeconomic Synergies between Fisheries Exploitation and Heightened Species Extinction Risk

This defense will be presented in person. Join us in the MSI Auditorium or watch online using this link and passcode fisheries

ABSTRACT

Fisheries, while critical to food security and income, are important drivers of extinction risk for thousands of species globally. Fisheries theory generally predicts that fisheries cannot drive fish extinct because of lack of profitability as stocks decline. In this dissertation, I advance fisheries theory to show that this is not always the case and explore particular scenarios of special conservation concern. In my first chapter, I develop a theoretical fisheries bioeconomic model that shows how a fishery can drive fish extinct. In my second chapter, I address the historical and future patterns of serial exploitation for luxury seafood products and predict which species will most likely enter this market in the future. In the third chapter, I use machine learning to estimate fisheries-induced mortality rates for over 300 shark species and use simulations to estimate the populational effect of retention bans in longline fisheries for over 250 of these species.

BIO

Leonardo is a biologist interested in fisheries science and conservation, with a special focus on sharks and rays. Leo earned a B.S. in Biological Sciences from the Federal University of Maranhão, Brazil, where he used molecular biology techniques to develop one of the largest studies identifying shark species traded in South America. Leo then earned an M.S. in Animal Biology from the Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil, where he studied the habitat use and distribution of the smalltail shark, culminating in its updated conservation listing from Data Deficient to Critically Endangered. At the Bren School, Leo engaged in approaching fisheries conservation through an interdisciplinary lens, developing bioeconomic theory and using different modeling frameworks to assess how the synergy between economics and biology increases extinction risk for certain fish. Leo is a Fulbright Scholar, a Schmidt Family Fellow and a WWF Russell E. Train Fellow.