Gabrielle Carmine is a marine sustainability scientist specializing in quantitative and geospatial analysis for ocean conservation solutions. Dr. Carmine’s work focuses on industrial fishing in the high seas, or the ~2/3 of the ocean lying beyond a nation’s exclusive economic zone. Fish landings from the high seas quadrupled between 1950 and 1990 and have led to the overexploitation of marine biodiversity, with almost no ocean area free from fishing today. Her previous PhD work from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment examined the ways in which fishing on the high seas is conducted and led by corporate actors without appropriate accountability by regional international governing bodies (RFMOs) and the ways this state of affairs may negatively impact conservation of high seas biodiversity. Using geospatial analyses of satellite-derived apparent fishing activity, she quantified and examined high seas fisheries dynamics through their beneficial ownership, governance under RFMOs, and possible solutions through the recently agreed United Nations treaty for Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ).
Her post-doctoral work with Dr. Rebecca Helm aims to utilize ecological, economic, and governance datasets to identify targeted policy solutions that would reduce high seas fishing vessel over-capacity. She will apply this work to the future implementation of the UN BBNJ treaty, which presents a unique opportunity to limit fishing capacity and add to the work of redefining sustainable fisheries in the Anthropocene.