Future of Marine Animal Populations (FMAP)

The Future of Marine Animal Populations (FMAP) is the modeling and predictive component of the Census of Marine Life. It is a network of statisticians and mathematical modelers that will ultimately address the third question of CoML, “What will live in the oceans?” However, the network contributes to CoML in several other key ways. Models aid the design of sampling programs and to help define the limits of knowledge.

FMAP attempts to describe and synthesize globally changing patterns of species abundance, distribution, and diversity, and to model the effects of fishing, climate change and other key variables on those patterns. This work is done across ocean realms and with an emphasis on understanding past changes and predicting future scenarios.

For more information, see the FMAP project website.

FMAP Project Team

Principal Investigator:
Boris Worm, Dalhousie University, Canada

Principal Investigator:
Heike Lotze, Dalhousie University, Canada

Principal Investigator:
Ian Jonsen, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Canada

Project Manager:
Catherine Muir, Dalhousie University, Canada

FMAP was initiated by the late Ransom A. (RAM) Myers of Dalhousie University.

Workshops

First FMAP Workshop, Halifax, NS, Canada, 21-23 June 2002

Related Publications & Press

• “Shifting baselines and the decline of pelagic sharks in the Gulf of Mexico” (Julia K. Baum and Ransom A. Myers, Ecology Letters, (2004) 7: 135–145)
• Cover Study of Ecology Letters Provides New Evidence that Oceanic Sharks have been Decimated by Industrial Fisheries (Press Release, February 2004)
• “Predator diversity hotspots in the blue ocean” (B. Worm, H. Lotze & R. Myers, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: 19 August 2003)
• ‘Serengetis of the ocean’ discovered in U.S., Australian national waters (Press Release, Institut für Meereskunde an der Universität Kiel, 4 August 2003)
• “Net losses: Industrialized fishing hits fish stocks” (R. Myers & B. Worm, Nature: 15 May 2003)
• “Key Ocean Fish Species Ravaged, Study Finds” (Washington Post: 14 May 2003)