Live Taping of The Catch @ COP28

Marina Abas is a neurophysiologist and marine biologist studying how fish species´ evolutionary features can be used as a tool to predict the effects of climate change in the marine environment. Abas has always been fascinated by the enigma of species´ behavior. Originally from Argentina, Abas´ first steps in science started at the University of Buenos Aires, where she studied biology with a focus on the neurobiology of animal behavior. Seeking to understand species´ behavior on a more diverse scale, Abas expanded her education far beyond the Buenos Aires classrooms working with marine mammals in Brazil, Argentina (Patagonia) and México. Towards the end of her undergrad, Abas secured her first research project studying the ecology and behavior of marsupials in Argentina. Abas' passion for diving led her to Baja California Sur, Mexico, where she earned a grant to pursue a master in Marine Science, with a focus in Marine Ecology. During her masters, Abas focused on how the evolutionary features of fish species can be used as a tool to predict the effects of climate change on the marine environment. She developed an index to measure the adaptation of reef fishes to climate change based on evolutionary and behavioral traits. The index is intended to evaluate and compare the adaptive capacity to climate change of reef-fish communities in the Gulf of California and the Mexican Pacific Ocean. Recently, Abas was awarded a National Geographic grant to expand her research from the Gulf of California to the Southern Mexican Pacific reefs. A timely effort as this area has been scarcely monitored and is currently exposed to changing temperatures, extreme weather, and ocean acidification events. She hopes that the new data will help her evaluate the adaptive capacity of reef-fishes’ communities of the Pacific coast of Mexico to climate change. Consequently, this evaluation will allow her to generate a baseline for vulnerability assessments. Climate change is already affecting species behavior and community's composition. To predict these changes, Abas believes that it is necessary to improve our understanding of species adaptive capacity (their potential to cope with environmental changes).

Manuel Barange, a national of South Africa and Spain, is Assistant Director General in addition to being Director of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Division. Professor Barange has a BSc in Biology from the University of Barcelona, Spain, and a PhD in Marine Ecology. Before joining FAO he was Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Science at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK) and Chair of the Science Committee of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). He is an Honorary Professor at the College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter (UK). He is a recognized expert on climate and anthropogenic impacts on marine ecosystems and on the role of aquatic foods in ending hunger and poverty. He has over 130 academic publications, and in 2010 he was awarded the UNESCO-IOC Roger Revelle Medal for his contributions to ocean science.

Dr. Sarah Glaser leads the newly formed Oceans Futures team for which she is developing programming around ocean and climate security. The Oceans Futures technology platform will engage maritime stakeholders around the security implications of climate change for marine ecosystems. She is interested in exploring—and preventing—conflict between marine resource users where it will be most likely or most impactful. She has experience working with a wide range of stakeholders, including those in international militaries, foreign government ministries, academic institutions, and coastal fishing communities. Her geographic expertise is in coastal East Africa, the Horn of Africa, and the California Current. Sarah joined WWF from One Earth Future, a peacebuilding foundation, where she directed the Secure Fisheries program. Secure Fisheries worked on fisheries conflict prevention in Somalia, and Sarah led their efforts at establishing conflict-sensitive fisheries co-management, collecting fisheries data, and quantifying IUU fishing in the Horn of Africa. Her favorite accomplishment was starting a university engagement project in Somalia that brought together students at four universities for online marine science courses and field-based fisheries data collection. Before working at OEF, she had academic appointments at the University of Denver, College of William and Mary, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, the University of Kansas, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Sarah was raised in Kansas but fell in love with sharks through the books and TV series of Jacques Cousteau. She earned her PhD from Scripps Institution of Oceanography where she studied the food web ecology of North Pacific albacore, racking up hundreds of (seasick) hours aboard commercial and recreational fishing vessels.  

Rebecca Hubbard is the Director of the High Seas Alliance, a global alliance of 50+ NGOs and the IUCN, working to protect the high seas, which cover half the planet. Rebecca has an Honors Degree in Environmental Science and has been campaigning for over 20 years, from the local to international level, primarily to better protect and manage the ocean. She lives on Muwinina country in Tasmania, Australia.