The field of fisheries science is critical to society not only because it examines the interactions between environmental and human factors but also because fish are the greatest source of protein worldwide. The social dynamic of fisheries research lies in preserving and enhancing fisheries resources for the future while looking for benefits, both nutritional and economic, to society from those resources. The signals of environmental stresses on these vast ecosystems can serve as indicators of the health of our human environment as well. My vision for the future of fisheries science is the challenge of managing conflicting uses of ocean resources by an expanding human population. This means balancing healthy ocean ecosystems with the healthy economy of our technological society.
Global population increases mean greater demands for wise and fair uses of natural resources.
It is simply not viable to ignore either the health of the ecosystem or the health of the economy. Also, science has been demystified. Through advanced communication technologies, scientific knowledge is more and more accessible by the public. This public, with an increasingly sophisticated understanding of science, is holding scientists far more accountable for the quality of their information and the social impacts of their decisions. They must be skilled in hard, analytical thinking yet with a practical bent that can respond to the fluid problems of ecosystems and societies.