SainSolutions
Sustainable Ecosystem Management and Science
Professor Doctor Keith Sainsbury
Dr Sainsbury is a marine ecologist and mathematical modeller, with a research focus on the assessment, ecology, exploitation and conservation of marine resources and ecosystems.
He is the Director of SainSolutions Pty Ltd, a Tasmanian-based consulting company which provides scientific advice worldwide on the sustainable development of marine ecosystems, particularly ecosystem-based fishery management and integrated ecosystem-based management of regional ecosystems.
Dr Sainsbury has directed and conducted research on two main areas:
(i) to support ecologically sustainable fisheries practice and
management, and
(ii) to assess the cumulative impacts of human use on regional
marine ecosystems and support regional multiple-use
management.
Dr Sainsbury’s work has included fishery management of resources that range from abalone to tuna and from Sub-Antarctic toothfish to tropical snappers. It has also included support for development and implementation of Australia’s Oceans Policy to address integrated oceans management, major research programs to support sustainable coastal zone development and management on the North West Shelf and Ningaloo Reef regions of Western Australia, and identification of Marine Protected Areas of continental shelf/slope and seamount systems in Australia.
Dr Sainsbury was an invited participant in the 1995 Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) expert consultancy that provided guidelines for the precautionary approach in fisheries; chaired the 2003 FAO expert consultancy that developed guidelines for the ecosystem approach to fisheries management; chaired the scientific panel of the 2006 OECD Ministerial Working Group on IUU (illegal, unregulated and unreported) fishing; was a member of the 2007 independent panel at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) to provide a model for improved governance by Regional Fisheries Management Organisations; and provided an expert review for the 2008 development of FAO guidelines on the use of ecolabelling for fishery products.
Dr Sainsbury is the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the London-based Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and a member of the Council’s Technical Advisory Board. The MSC assesses the sustainability of fishery resources and supplies an Ecolabel to fisheries that pass the MSC standard. Dr Sainsbury is also a Commissioner to the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, the Australian federal fishery regulator, and chairs the AFMA Environment Committee. He is an external advisor to the Marine Management Initiative of the US based Moore Foundation, and is a selector for the Marine Fellowship program of the US based Pew Foundation. He was a member of the 2005 panel appointed by the Federal Minister for the Environment to help establish a representative system of Marine Protected Areas in SE Australia. He is Professor of Marine System Science at the University of Tasmania, Australia, and is a strategic advisor to the CSIRO Wealth from Oceans Flagship program on integrated coastal zone research and management. In 2004 Dr Sainsbury was awarded the Japan Prize for his contribution to understanding and management of continental shelf ecosystems.