“Applications of genomics to the fishing industry"

Prof. Gary Carvalho
Professor of Molecular Ecology
School of Biological Sciences
University of Wales, Bangor
United Kingdom

Professor Carvalho received his Master’s and PhD degrees from Bangor University in the 80s. After establishing molecular ecology groups with a particular focus on marine and fisheries genetics in Swansea and Hull Universities, he returned to Bangor in 2005. His initial remit was to expand in particular, studies on the molecular ecology of aquatic animals, including the use of molecular markers in fish and fisheries genetics. He currently coordinates the Molecular Ecology and Fisheries Genetics Laboratory (MEFGL) at Bangor University (http://mefgl.bangor.ac.uk/), one of Europe’s largest centres focusing on population and species diversity of aquatic animals. Research interests include the ecology and evolution of population differentiation, fisheries genetics and the evolution of adaptive variation in the wild. His work on marine fishes encompasses the analysis of genetic structuring, impacts of harvesting on genetic diversity and estimation of effective population size, and includes among the first demonstrations of fine-scale structuring and decadal analysis of cod and the analysis of “biocomplexity” in a marine pelagic fish, and more recently the first application of SNPs to tackle illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing (IUU) in marine fishes. Carvalho recently coordinated (2008-2011) the European project, FishPopTrace, focusing on population structure and novel tools in the traceability of fish and fish products, and a recently-funded NERC-funded project exploring the impact of Southern Ocean Warming on development and population connectivity in Antarctic fishes. Recent research has applied second generation sequencing technologies and transcriptomics to explore the community structure of marine benthos and response of intertidal animals to environmental change. He was part of a collaborative team involved in the first application of second generation sequencing to reveal hidden metazoan biodiversity in marine sediments, and the use of gene-associated markers to tackle IUU and false eco-certification. He is currently member of the ICES Working Group on the Application on Genetics in Fisheries and Mariculture, past Chair, European Regional Working Group of FISH-BOL- (DNA barcoding of fishes), past Vice-President of the Fisheries Society of the British Isles, and serves on various bodies, including NERC (UK- reappointed in 2012), and a founder Committee Member of the newly established (2012) UK National Committee on Biodiversity, funded by the Royal Society of London, and nominator of the Pew Environment Group Marine Fellowships.