Lifelong contribution to fish and fisheries science rewarded

Prof Gary Carvalho was awarded the Beverton Medal for his ground-breaking research and lifelong contribution to fish and fisheries science.Prof Gary Carvalho was awarded the Beverton Medal for his ground-breaking research and lifelong contribution to fish and fisheries science.Gary Carvalho, Professor in Zoology at Bangor University has been awarded the Fisheries Society of the British Isles (FSBI) Beverton Medal for his ground-breaking research and lifelong contribution to fish and fisheries science.

The Beverton Medal the FSBI’s most senior award and highest honour and marks Prof Carvalho as a distinguished scientist. He received the Medal and gave an acceptance speech at the recent FSBI Symposium.

Prof Carvalho’s work and research interests span the development and use of DNA techniques to assess how fish and other aquatic creatures respond to the environment over short and long timescales. He uses that genetic ‘bar-code’ information to identify and assess species, for conservation and fisheries management as well as in consumer protection and more recently has been leading research using the fish microbiome to assess the health of individual communities of fish.

Prof Carvalho said:

“It is of course a great honour to receive the Beverton Medal and recognition from colleagues and peers working in fisheries science.

In collaboration with numerous students and collaborators across the years, we applied a range of genetic tools across many different fish species to tackle problems in fish conservation and management. Many of our studies showed that marine fish populations were divided frequently into smaller, locally adapted and biologically distinct units. Such evidence helped to shift the spatial scale that managers could regulate and enforce conservation measures. Understanding the distribution and abundance of such population diversity or “genetic resources” enhances our ability to fish at sustainable Prof Carvalho gave an acceptance Speech at the FSBI Symposium.Prof Carvalho gave an acceptance Speech at the FSBI Symposium.evels as well as promote stock recovery. Such contributions collectively increase crucial dialogue between fisheries scientists and policy makers. Discussion helps us to design more effective genetic and other tools for application in relation to future challenges of environmental change and overexploitation.”

Since his appointment to Bangor University in 2005 Prof Carvalho has led the Molecular Ecology and Fisheries Genetics Laboratory (MEFGL), which is now among the largest European groups focusing on the molecular ecology and evolution of aquatic life.

Prof Carvalho is a Fellow of the Linnean Society and of the Society of Biology and serves on various national and international Committees including as a member of several governmental and other advisory groups.

Publication date: 17 July 2018