Dirk Zeller – Senior Scientist and Executive Director

B.Sc. Hons. (James Cook University)
Ph.D. (James Cook University)

Dr Dirk Zeller is the Senior Scientist and Executive Director of the Sea Around Us (www.seaaroundus.org). He directs research activities and co-directs strategic research and funding decisions with the Project Principle Investigator, Prof. Daniel Pauly. Dirk leads research on global catch reconstructions and Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing, and engages in research on coral reef fisheries , ocean governance and fisheries policy. He collaborates closely with the Fisheries Economics Research Unit on issues in resource economics, with the Changing Ocean Research Unit on issues of climate change and fisheries, and with the UBC Faculty of Law on issues related to international maritime boundary law and the UN Law of the Sea Convention.

Dirk has over 250 scientific contributions, and published both in the primary literature (Nature, Science, PLoS ONE, Marine Policy, Marine Ecology Progress Series, Environmental Health Perspectives etc.) and in dedicated book chapters and research reports. Dirk was co-awarded the 2012 UBC Innovative Dissemination of Research Award and the 2011 Ecological Society of
America Sustainability Science Award. He collaborates with scientists in Australia, Asia, Europe, the Americas, the Caribbean and Pacific. He represents the Sea Around Us at conferences and workshops throughout the world.

Dirk has a background in tropical marine biology and fisheries ecology from James Cook University, Australia, and has professional interests in sustainability, strategic and global policy developments and resource economics, as well as marine reserves and coral reef ecology.

Click here for a full list of Dirk’s publications, including PDF’s