Professor Callum Michael Roberts is a British

marine conservation Marine conservation, also known as ocean conservation, is the protection and preservation of ecosystems in oceans and seas through planned management in order to prevent the over-exploitation of these marine resources. Marine conservation is i ...

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

oceanographer Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics ...

science communicator Science communication is the practice of informing, educating, raising awareness of science-related topics, and increasing the sense of wonder about scientific discoveries and arguments. Science communicators and audiences are ambiguously def ...

, author and research scholar at the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a public university , public research university in Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Min ...

. He was formerly at the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

. He is best known for his research and advocacy related to

marine reserve A marine reserve is a type of marine protected area (MPA). An MPA is a section of the ocean where a government has placed limits on human activity. A marine reserve is a marine protected area in which removing or destroying natural or cultural ...

s and the

environmental impact of fishing The environmental impact of fishing includes issues such as the availability of fish, overfishing, fisheries, and fisheries management; as well as the impact of industrial fishing on other elements of the environment, such as bycatch. These is ...

Career

Roberts' work examines the impact of human activity on

marine ecosystem Marine ecosystems are the largest of Earth's aquatic ecosystems and exist in waters that have a high salt content. These systems contrast with freshwater ecosystems, which have a lower salt content. Marine waters cover more than 70% of the surf ...

s, particularly

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

s. His research output has examined the benefits of

s and no-fishing zones on

sustainable fisheries A conventional idea of a sustainable fishery is that it is one that is harvested at a sustainable rate, where the fish population does not decline over time because of fishing practices. Sustainability in fisheries combines theoretical disciplin ...

and biodiversity. He began his career studying reefs of the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

, and has also worked in the

Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...

and on the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

. Roberts is also an active supporter of the

Deep Sea Conservation Coalition {{No footnotes, date=November 2021 The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) is an alliance of over 100 international organizations working to promote the conservation of biodiversity on the high seas. The coalition is calling for a moratorium on ...

. He is the Chief Scientific Advisor to

Blue Marine Foundation Blue Marine Foundation (stylized as BLUE) is a marine conservation organisation. It was founded as a legacy project following the 2009 documentary film ''The End of the Line''. It has been involved in establishing marine reserves in the Chagos A ...

and an Ambassador for

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...

. Since 2011 Roberts has written occasional opinion editorials for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' on various marine conservation topics, including

overfishing Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing fish stock), resulting in th ...

. He has also appeared in the documentary films ''The End of the Line'' (2009) and ''

Seaspiracy ''Seaspiracy'' () is a 2021 documentary film about the environmental impact of fishing directed by and starring Ali Tabrizi, a British filmmaker. The film examines human impacts on marine life and advocates for ending fish consumption. The fi ...

'' (2021) and was chief scientific adviser to the BBC's 2017 documentary series ''

Blue Planet II ''Blue Planet II'' is a 2017 British nature documentary series on marine life produced by the BBC Natural History Unit. Like its predecessor, ''The Blue Planet'' (2001), it is narrated and presented by naturalist Sir David Attenborough. After ...

''. He is the author of two award-winning books, ''

The Unnatural History of the Sea ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (

Rachel Carson Award The Rachel Carson Award is awarded each spring by the National Audubon Society's Women in Conservation to recognize "women whose immense talent, expertise, and energy greatly advance conservation and the environmental movement locally and globally" ...

, 2007), which examined the impact of human activity and fishing on marine ecosystems over the last thousand years, and ''Ocean of Life'' (Mountbatten Award, 2013), which covers more recent changes in the ocean and proposes reforms to facilitate their recovery. His latest book is ''Reef Life: An Underwater Memoir'' (2019).

Other work

1999-2003. Member of editorial board of Conservation Biology, published by the Society for Conservation Biology. 1997-2000. Member of Editorial board of journal Animal Conservation, published by Cambridge University Press. 1996. Senior editor of the proceedings of a symposium: "Marine reserves: Function and Design" held at the 8th International Coral Reef Symposium, Panama. 1991-1996. Co-editor of Reef Encounter, Newsletter of the International Society for Reef Studies.

Bibliography

*
The Unnatural History of the Sea
'.

Island Press Island Press is a nonprofit, environmental publisher based in Washington, D.C., United States, that specializes in natural history, ecology, conservation, and the built environment. Established in 1984, Island Press generates about half of its r ...

, 2007. *
The Ocean of Life: The Fate of Man and the Sea
'.

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquire ...

, 2012; Penguin, 2013. *
Reef Life: An Underwater Memoir
'.

Profile Books Profile Books is a British independent book publishing firm founded in 1996. It publishes non-fiction subjects including history, biography, memoir, politics, current affairs, travel and popular science. Profile Books is distributed in the UK ...

; Profile Books, 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Callum English marine biologists Conservation biologists British oceanographers Fisheries scientists British nature writers Non-fiction environmental writers Academics of the University of York Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century British zoologists