Think/Act Globally and Locally; The Essential Contribution of Basic Science Towards Improved Fishery Management

Economical and budgetary concerns are increasingly pushing government research funding toward utilitarian research with expected quick return for the industry at the expense of basic science. Investing in utilitarian research has obvious merits, yet this creates situations where science funding decisions are increasingly at risk of becoming politicized or where government policies are being established without considering the importance of basic scientific knowledge. This short-term view also assumes that innovation arises in a logical fashion from planned research. Yet, history teaches us that innovations in basic science that fuel utilitarian research often arise from unplanned sources. This means that the probability of scientific innovations follow a heavy-tail distribution, so as to allow consequential discoveries to occur once in a while and unpredictably. Focusing only on directed utilitarian research will simply miss these heavy-tailed rewards. It order to get the most out of public money, it is thus crucial to maintain national funding strategies that will ensure an optimal balance between long-term basic research vs. short-term utilitarian research. I will discuss and also illustrate from empirical work how this view applies to the conservation of aquatic biodiversity as well as improved fishery management.