Marine Scientist Jeremy Jackson to Speak April 11

The transformation of the world’s oceans due to overfishing, pollution and climate change will be the focus of a lecture at the University of Maine by a senior scientist emeritus at the Smithsonian Institution.

Jeremy Jackson’s lecture, “Ocean Apocalypse,” begins at 4 p.m. April 11 in Wells Conference Center, sponsored by the UMaine School of Marine Sciences. The lecture, followed by a reception, are free and open to the public. For more information or to request a disability accommodation, call 207.518.4385.

Overfishing, pollution and climate change are laying the groundwork for a massive transformation of the oceans with dire implications for biodiversity and human well-being. Jackson will speak about the fundamental changes humans need to make in order to save the oceans and themselves.

Jackson, the author of “Shifting Baselines: The Past and Future of Ocean Fisheries,” also is professor of oceanography emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He studies human effects on oceans and the ecology and paleoecology of tropical and subtropical marine ecosystems. He has written more than 150 scientific publications and is the author or editor of eight books.

Jackson has received many awards including the 2012 Darwin Medal from the International Society of Reef Studies, the Peterson Medal from Harvard University and the Paleontological Society Medal. Jackson and filmmaker Randy Olson co-founded the Shifting Baselines initiative in which filmmakers and marine scientists collaborate to bring marine environmental issues to the larger public.