Robert

Blasiak

PhD

Associate professor

robert.blasiak@su.se

+46 8-16 4217

@BlasiakRobert

RSS-link

Profile summary

  • Ocean governance
  • Stewardship
  • Seafood
  • Marine genetic resources
  • Biomimicry
  • Ocean risk and resilience

Robert Blasiak's research focuses on stewardship within the seafood industry and issues surrounding marine genetic resources and biotechnology

Blasiak is a researcher at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, where he focuses on the sustainable management of ocean resources, and ocean stewardship. His recent work has dealt with issues surrounding the conservation and equitable use of marine genetic resources.

Before joining SRC, Robert worked as a researcher in the Laboratory of Global Fisheries Science at the University of Tokyo and a communications officer at the United Nations University. He has previously been a senior research fellow with the Nippon Foundation NEREUS Program, as well as a visiting researcher with the University of Tokyo and the United Nations University.

He has co-led publications about the “ocean genome” and marine genetic resources for the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, the United Nations Regular Process (World Ocean Assessment), and the Blue Climate Initiative.

Blasiak is a German-English translator, and is currently translating the memoirs of Dr. Franz Doflein, one of the first marine ecologists to travel to East Asia (in 1905) and conduct research on the deep-sea fauna and flora off the eastern coast of Japan.

Blasiak completed his PhD at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, supervised by Professor Nobuyuki Yagi. His PhD thesis was titled “Conservation and sustainable use of the oceans: Strategic behavior and unintended consequences (海洋の保全と持続可能な利用：戦略的行動と意図せざる結果)”.

He received a Masters degree from Lund University (Lund University Masters in International Development) applying game theory to aspects of international cooperation in Cambodia, and a Bachelors degree from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Blasiak is a member of the Ocean and Climate Platform Scientific Committee, a member of the editorial board of the ICES Journal of Marine Science, a participant in the UN Global Compact Ocean Stewardship Coalition, a member of the Expert Review Committee for the Seafood Stewardship Index, and coordinates the scientific input to the SeaBOS initiative (Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship).

He has co-led working groups and publications on marine genetic resources for the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, the World Ocean Assessment and the Blue Climate Initiative. He is currently leading the FORMAS project on “The marine biotechnology industry and equitable governance of marine genetic resources” and is co-leading the SRC’s Human Ocean research theme.

Current funding

  • Swedish Research Council Formas (2020-01048)
  • Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA) through the Government of Canada
  • Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
  • David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Supervision

Frida Bengtsson

PhD

Co-supervisor

Margrét Rós Sigurjónsdóttir

Masters

Main supervisor

Erik Zhivkoplias

PhD

Main supervisor

Key publications

Blasiak, R., Wynberg, R., Grorud-Colvert, K., Thambisetty, S., Bandarra, N.M., Canario, A.V., da Silva, J., Duarte, C.M., Jaspars, M., Rogers, A., Sink, K. and Wabnitz, C.C.C. 2020. The ocean genome and future prospects for conservation and equity. Nature Sustainability, 3(8), pp.588-596.

Blasiak, R., Kenchington, E., Arrieta, J.M., Bermúdez-Monsalve, J.R., Calumpong, H., Changwei, S., Chiba, S., Dionisi, H., Garcia-Soto, C., Vieira, H. and Wawrik, B., 2021. Developments in the exploration for and use of marine genetic resources. World Ocean Assessment II. United Nations.

Blasiak, R., Dauriach, A., Jouffray, J. B., Folke, C., Österblom, H., Bebbington, J., ... & Crona, B. (2021). Evolving Perspectives of Stewardship in the Seafood Industry. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8, 676.

Claudet, J., Amon, D.J. and Blasiak, R., 2021. Transformational opportunities for an equitable ocean commons. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(42).

Blasiak, R., Jouffray, J.B., Wabnitz, C.C., Sundström, E. and Österblom, H., 2018. Corporate control and global governance of marine genetic resources. Science advances, 4(6), p.eaar5237.

Publications by Blasiak, Robert

Credibility at stake in Sweden

Journal / article | 2022

Österblom, H., Blasiak, R.. 2022. Credibility at stake in Sweden. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adf4127

Swedens legacy as a global leader in the push to put climate and the environment at the heart of government decision-making may have come to an end on 18 October 2022. The first casualty of the countrys new right-wing government was the Ministry of the Environment, eliminated on Day 1. A key question is the extent to which this change derails progress made toward building a sustainable nation and world. Sweden has long been a...

A forgotten element of the blue economy: marine biomimetics and inspiration from the deep sea

Journal / article | 2022

Blasiak, R., Jouffray, J., Amon, D., Moberg, F., Claudet, J., Søgaard Jørgensen, P., Pranindita, A., Wabnitz, C., Österblom, H.. 2022. A forgotten element of the blue economy: marine biomimetics and inspiration from the deep sea. PNAS Nexus. doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac196

The morphology, physiology, and behavior of marine organisms have been a valuable source of inspiration for solving conceptual and design problems. Here, we introduce this rich and rapidly expanding field of marine biomimetics, and identify it as a poorly articulated and often overlooked element of the ocean economy associated with substantial monetary benefits. We showcase innovations across seven broad categories of marine b...

Scientific mobilization of keystone actors for biosphere stewardship

Journal / article | 2022

Österblom, H., Folke, C., Rocha, J. et al. Scientific mobilization of keystone actors for biosphere stewardship. Sci Rep 12, 3802 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-07023-8

The biosphere crisis requires changes to existing business practices. We ask how corporations can become sustainability leaders, when constrained by multiple barriers to collaboration for biosphere stewardship. We describe how scientists motivated, inspired and engaged with ten of the world’s largest seafood companies, in a collaborative process aimed to enable science-based and systemic transformations (2015–2021). CEOs face...

WTO must ban harmful fisheries subsidies

Journal / article | 2021

Sumaila, U., Skerritt, D., Schuhbauer, A., Villasante, S., Cisneros-Montemayor, A., Sinan, H., et.al. 2021. WTO must ban harmful fisheries subsidies. Science. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abm1680

Sustainably managed wild fisheries support food and nutritional security, livelihoods, and cultures. Harmful fisheries subsidies—government payments that incentivize overcapacity and lead to overfishing—undermine these benefits yet are increasing globally. World Trade Organization (WTO) members have a unique opportunity at their ministerial meeting in November to reach an agreement that eliminates harmful subsidies. We—a group...