Discovering and Embracing Diversity of Individuals

Over our lifetimes, we have found that society is composed of individuals that have unique skills and differing value systems.  At first we struggled with trying to embrace all this diversity.  We had been taught that there were only certain ways to be a professional and had developed in our mind the ideal prototypic fishery scientist, and for that matter, human being!  What we found is that few individuals, including ourselves, met these criteria. Once freed from the idea that there was only one way towards fisheries nirvana, we became open to the inclusion of different skills enhancing our lives and profession and found that diversity of opinions and skills enriched our understanding and made our research and management programs more effective and meaningful.  For fisheries to be increasingly relevant to society, and thus ensure their sustainability ,  we need to celebrate and include individuals with differing skills and ways of thinking, and provide an environment for them to excel as a member of the team.  To not do so, will doom our profession and ultimately our treasured fishery resources.