New book tells the story of Centre initiative on ocean stewardship

The Sounds of Science is the story of how a handful of global seafood companies, together with scientists from the Centre and partner institutions, formed a coalition for ocean stewardship.

“This initiative is a large-scale scientific experiment where we as scientists work closely together with these companies, with independent funding, to generate a larger movement towards better stewardship of our planet – and hopefully a positive chain reaction,” says Henrik Österblom, the author of The Sounds of Science.

Keystone actors

The global fishing industry is dominated by a few very powerful companies – sometimes referred to as keystone actors – crucial players with the capacity to undermine or accelerate efforts to achieve ocean sustainability.

For several years, scientists from the Centre have engaged with these big actors and their disproportionate powers in a coalition called SeaBOS (Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship). Their goal? To provide global and science-based industry leadership on ocean stewardship.

The scientists have shaped the starting point and direction of the initiative: communicating the notion, ambition and urgency of ocean stewardship; the collective capacity of the coalition; and the latest research on ocean science. Together with the members, they define priorities and ambitious, time-bound goals, which provide a framework for the companies to communicate tangible outcomes – based on science.

The coalition launched in 2016 and published its first progress report in 2022. This work has been featured in several scientific publications, but a first-hand account has been missing of the background, pains associated with, challenges faced, and learning resulting from this initiative.

Tangible advice

Now, Centre researcher Henrik Österblom, who has been instrumental in the SeaBOS journey since the beginning, has summarized challenges, successes and lessons learned of this large-scale scientific experiment in a new book, published by Academic Press.

The book aims to be a resource for sharing this story with other actors and sectors.
“I hope this book can be helpful for corporate leaders and policymakers who want to understand, collaborate and work with the planet to reach global sustainability goals,” says author Henrik Österblom.

It is also meant to offer tangible advice to scientists on how to work with the private sector.

“I want to extend a big thank you to the numerous friends, colleagues, partners and funders who have been involved in writing this book, and in making the work with SeaBOS possible,” says Henrik Österblom.

Read "The Sounds of Science" »

The Sounds of Science-playlist

The book also features a playlist consisting of one song per chapter. You can listen to the playlist below: