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Dana Miller School of Biology & Environmental Science |
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Research Interests:
I have broad interests in a wide range of research topics relating to marine conservation. In particular, I am interested in environmental and sustainability issues pertaining to both seafood and fisheries industries. I also have a strong interest in the use of marine protected areas, implemented both as a tool for fisheries management and as a strategy for conserving marine habitats and biodiversity. Additionally, in the future I hope to stay involved with applied research that crosses over between different disciplines in order to answer questions about particular conservation problems. My current PhD is interdisciplinary in nature, incorporating ideas and methods from sociology, history, policy, ecology and molecular genetics.
Current Project:
Trends and trajectories of Ireland's seafood industry: working towards sustainability
As an island nation, Ireland is connected to and responsible for the ocean and seas that surround it. Commercial fishing has historically been one of the major anthropogenic activities linking Irish society to the marine environment. Using methods derived from ecology, sociology and molecular genetics, aspects of the past and present functioning of the Irish seafood industry are being investigated. The aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of the roles and influences that different actors and activities have within the industry and to examine linkages among identified processes. Intertwined with both local and foreign fisheries production, the Irish seafood industry has the potential to either sustainably contribute to Ireland's national food security, or to willfully participate in the destruction of the world's last major wild food resource.
PhD Student, commenced 2008, funded by IRCSET
Supervisor:
Dr. Stefano Mariani, School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin
Collaborators:
Dr. Hilary Tovey, Department of Sociology, Trinity College Dublin
The Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia
Peer-Reviewed Publications:
Miller, D.M. and Mariani, S. 2010. Smoke, mirrors and mislabeled cod: poor transparency in the European seafood industry. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.
doi: 10.1890/090212
Conferences and Workshops Attended:
Participant at the Seafood Choices' 2010 Seafood Summit, January 31-February 2, Paris Mariott Rive Gauche Hotel and Conference Center, Paris, France.
Participant at the conference entitled "Oceans Past III- Stories from the Sea – History of Marine Animal Populations and their Exploitation", November 18-20, 2010, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
Miller, D.M. and Mariani, S. 2009. An interdisciplinary investigation of Ireland's seafood industry: towards the goal of sustainability. Poster presentation at the 2nd European Congress of Conservation Biology, September 1-5, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.
Miller, D.M. and Mariani, S. 2009. Transparency within the Irish seafood industry: an investigation of seafood mislabeling and traceability. Poster presentation at the 44th European Marine Biology Symposium, September 7-11, Liverpool University, UK.
Participant at the European Seafood Exposition, April 28-30, 2009, Brussels, Belgium.
Research highlights covered by national television, radio and 10 national newspapers, among which:
Not quite what it says on the tin by Paul Cullen for The Irish Times, May 24, 2010.
Chippers look like they are codding us over fish, it's pollocks by Ed Carty for The Metro Herald, April 23, 2010.
Codology Exposed: We've been haddock, fish favorites replaiced with cheaper option by Mark May for The Irish Sun, April 23, 2010.
Study finds 25% of fish on sale are mislabeled in European Commission CORDIS news, April 26, 2010.
Audio:
Fish Fraud, interview by Jeb Sharp with Stefano Mariani on PRI's The World, April 23, 2010.