MCRI Board of Directors
Dr. Barbara A. Block
Professor, Tuna Research & Conservation Center
Hopkins Marine Center
Barbara is a Professor in Marine Sciences at Stanford University, California. With her colleagues at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, she has established the Tuna Research and Conservation Center, where bluefin and yellowfin tuna are held in captivity for physiological study and giant bluefin are now on exhibit at the aquarium. Her research utilizes electronic tagging, physiology and molecular genetics to examine the short and long-term movement patterns, stock structure and behaviour of tunas, lamnid sharks, and billfishes. At Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station, her team has pioneered the deployment of pop-up satellite and archival tags on tunas, billfishes and sharks. Barbara is Chief Scientist of the Tagging of Pacific Pelagics program http://www.topp.org a multi-disciplinary team tagging 4000 apex predators in the eastern Pacific. Concerned about the real possibility of northern bluefin tuna becoming commercially extinct, and armed with the scientific data to improve Atlantic bluefin tuna management, she teamed with a dedicated group of recreational fishers and other scientists to found the Tag-A-Giant Foundation (TGF) in 2006. http://www.tagagiant.org Barbara has received the Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation the MacArthur Foundation Award and is a Pew Marine Conservation Fellow.
