Sidore Series 10-11
2010 - 2011 Saul O Sidore Memorial Lecture Series
SEA STORIES FOR THE FUTURE:
INTERDISCIPLINARY CONVERSATIONS ON HISTORIC OCEANS
AND CONTEMPORARY MARINE SCIENCE
Long regarded as a place apart from human society, even though it covers 70% of the globe and drives our climate, the ocean was also imagined until quite recently as existing outside of time, eternal and unchanging. During the last few decades, however, it has become clear not only that the future of the planet is linked to the health of the living ocean, but that the living ocean, far from being timeless, exists in tension with human history. It’s time for a new generation of sea stories, time to recognize that over-fishing, destruction of marine habitats, and shipborne biological invasions have cast the time-honored phrase “men against the sea” in a new light. This new generation of sea stories is based on contemporary science and on historical analysis of specific marine ecosystems -- on the sort of interdisciplinary collaboration that provides answers to questions beyond the ken of experts in one field. These sea stories for the future hold out the promise that the plight of the oceans is not simply a concern of fishermen or coastal residents, but is linked to the future of humankind. This Sidore Series brings together experts from a variety of backgrounds in conversations about the past, present and future of the ocean, and the implications for human populations of changes in the sea.
Organizers: W. Jeffrey Bolster, History Department; Karen Alexander, Ocean Process Analysis Lab
The Saul O Sidore Memorial Lecture Series was established in 1965 in memory of Saul O Sidore of Manchester, New Hampshire. The purpose of the series is to offer the University community and the state of New Hampshire programs that raise critical and sometimes controversial issues facing our society. The University of New Hampshire Center for the Humanities sponsors the programs.
All lectures are free and open to the public.
Sea of Plenty? Historical Trends, Current Issues, and Future Perspectives on Our Use of Seafood
Speaker: Heike Lotze, Canada Research Chair in Marine Renewable Resources, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
Date: February 23, 2011 Time: 4:00 - 5:00 PM Place: Memorial Union Building - Theater II
Lecture Summary: Since ancient times, coastal people all around the world have used seafood as a major contribution to their diet, but until recently we did not know much about the environmental history of the sea.
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RUNNING SILVER: "Shifting Baselines" and the Decline of Freshwater-Sea Fishes
Speaker: John Waldman, Professor of Biology, Queen's College, City University of New York
Date: October 20, 2010 Time: 4:00 - 5:00 PM Place: Handly Auditorium, De Meritt Hall 112
Lecture Summary: Alewives, shad, salmon, sturgeon and 18 other diadromous fish species, which migrate between marine- and freshwater to spawn, once made rivers and streams “run silver” with their abundance around the North Atlantic basin, a region known for pronounced declines in fisheries for many marine species.
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Too Many Catches: Consumption, Habitat, Climate and Competition in Medieval European Fisheries
Speaker: Richard Hoffmann, Professor Emeritus of History, York University, Toronto
Date: October 27, 2010 Time: 4:00-5:00 PM Place: Handly Auditorium, DeMeritt Hall 112
Lecture Summary: This sea story relates the historic complexity of fisheries in medieval Europe in a thousand year evolution that culminates in exploration and expansion to the northwestern Atlantic.
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Sea Change in the Gulf of Maine, 1850 - 1900
Speaker: Jeff Bolster, Associate Professor of History, University of New Hampshire
Date: November 3, 2010 Time: 4:00 - 5:00 PM Place: Handly Auditorium, DeMeritt Hall 112
Lecture Summary: The second half of the nineteenth century saw dramatic changes in the Gulf of Maine, both in the abundance and distribution of species and in fishermen's attitudes about regulations.
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It's Not About the Fish
Speaker: Jeremy Jackson, Ritter Professor of Oceanography and Director of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, LaJolla CA
Date: November 15, 2010 Time: 4:00 - 5:00 PM Place: Memorial Union Building - Granite State Room
Lecture Summary: Overfishing, pollution and climate change are laying the groundwork for a mass extinction in the oceans with dire implications for human wellbeing.
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