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BESTTuna 2015 in Amsterdam

Published on
29 oktober 2015

Students and the international advisory board met for three days in October to plan out the final stage of the programme. The board also agreed that most students are progressing well with one year to go in their PhDs. Integration of the results remains the major challenge.

On a house boat in the creative surroundings of the DSM wharf in North Amsterdam the BESTTuna team came together with the international advisory board for the third time. The seven PhD students involved in the programme presented their work to date and outlined what steps needed to be taken to finalise their projects. The conclusion for many was that there is still work to be done. But it was also clear that their theses are becoming more clearly defined with just over 12 months to go.

Considerable time was also given to scientific integration. Led by Megan Bailey, now working at Dalhousie University in Canada, the team refined a methodology for bringing together the main findings of the programme. The task now falls to the those based in Wageningen in the 2016 to complete the framework. Results are due in early 2017.

It is clear from the week together that a lot of work is still to come. But it is also clear that the first three years of investment are starting to pay off with a raft of publications now in the pipeline. The advisory board was very positive about how BESTTuna is progressing and sees potential for influencing the debate around sustainable and equitable tuna in the Western Pacific.