[Coral-List] conflict of interest
John Hocevar
jhocevar at greenpeace.org
Mon May 16 12:51:10 EDT 2016
Hi -
After seeing the discussion about Gene's question whether reef
scientists benefit from climate change, I thought some of you might be
interested in a related debate unfolding now. On Thursday, Greenpeace
revealed <http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/research/overfishing-denier>
that Ray Hilborn, a prominent UW fisheries biologist, had taken $3.56
million from industry, and often failed to disclose these conflicts of
interest appropriately. We sent this letter
<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2829811-Hilborn-Complaint-Letter-Final.html>
to UW outlining our findings, including several specific examples where
it seemed that direct conflicts had not been disclosed in apparent
violation of journal policies.
This is clearly quite a bit different than reef scientists working to
understand and address the most significant threat to the survival of
coral reefs. I bring this up here as contrast, but also because MPAs are
one of the most tools we have to increase the resiliency of reef
ecosystems and give them a chance of surviving the rapid changes they
are experiencing. Dr. Hilborn has frequently argued against MPAs in
recent years, as in this debate
<https://www.openchannels.org/chat/online-debate-large-no-take-areas-their-total-environmental-impact-positive-or-negative>
with Callum Roberts, and has been vocal in his criticism of marine
conservation efforts. As has become clear through conversations with
scientists over the past few days, many people who were understandably
frustrated with Hilborn's role in debates around the California Marine
Life Protection Act, or reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act,
were unaware of the extent of his industry ties.
Media coverage has been fairly balanced so far, with strong coverage in
Le Monde, Der Spiegel, NZ Herald, AP, NPR, Seattle Times, and the
Huffington Post
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ray-hilborn-funding_us_57365012e4b077d4d6f33238>.
UW, several scientific journals, the NY Times (which published an Op-Ed
by Hilborn), and several funders are looking into this matter now and
considering next steps. There has been a lively (ahem) conversation
about this controversy on social media, and I encourage you to add your
thoughts.
John Hocevar
Oceans Campaign Director
Greenpeace USA
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