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Aktuelle Pressemeldungen

Oceans out of balance? Max Planck lecture with Ian Hatton (04.03.2022)

Portrait of Ian Hatton next to the text "Max Planck Online Lecture - Oceans out of balance - Ian Hatton - March 23, 2022 / 6 p.m." with a blured out ocean infographic in the back and a scale with oceanic organisms in the front.

We cordially invite you to the public lecture "Oceans out of balance? How industrialized fishing affects the secret mathematical laws of nature" by Ian Hatton on March, 23 at 6:00 pm.

This public talk by Ian Hatton will discuss how the dramatic changes to ocean biomass due to human activities may be impacting ocean ecosystem functioning. The lecture will be presented by science journalist Dr. Tanja Busse and is part of the Max Planck Forum "Fragile Ecosystems", which is dedicated to this topic with a series of lectures in 2022.

You can follow the livestream of the lecture on YouTube, no registration required.

Scientists are gaining a better understanding of how industrialization, climate change and the overexploitation of the earth by a growing world population are connected. Nevertheless, we are currently failing to take decisive action against climate change. Where do we stand and what can be done? Four lectures focus on large ecological habitats and take stock of the state of endangerment. How are ecosystems responding to human-induced change? The series will be continued in autumn with discussions on "Earth and Humans in (Climate) Change" from the perspective of the social sciences.

Oceans out of balance - infographics

A comparative infographic on the oceanic biomass balance. It shows a balanced scale with organisms of all sizes balancing each other out in 1850 and compares that with a balance where small marine life outweighs larger oceanic fish and mammals today. — The mass of commercially exploitable fish (> 10 grams, 0-200 meters depth) has declined by 66 percent since 1850. In 1996, fishing reached its peak: 130 million tons of fish were taken from the sea at that time. Since then, quantities have been declining steadily despite an ever-increasing effort.

The Max Planck Society is raising awareness on this topic with a series of infographics that illustrate how much industrial fishing and whaling have decimated large marine mammals.