' Sea Ahead ' research aims use the past to build the future: by shaping future policy, we seek to rebuild and restore depleted resources in order to facilitate genuinely sustainable seafood security.
Understanding what past marine ecosystems were like is a major scientific challenge. And although this information can help us understand what has happened, it is insufficient in itself to reverse recent perverse trends in fisheries. This work seeks to establish a restoration ecology for the oceans that is practical and grounded in theory. The the aim is to foster ecosystem-based science that will underpin sustainable future fisheries, promote seafood security and restore diverse resilient ecosystems. It includes fresh methodology and tools, but also attempts to introduce concepts and theoretical insight from study of the past that will facilitate ecosystem-based policy goals