Robert B Thorpe
Principal Scientist, Marine Fisheries
Stock assessments are currently done on a stock-by-stock basis, e.g. cod is treated independently of haddock, and both are independent of whiting. However, these stocks eat and compete with each other, and are also caught together in the same fishery. Robert is working to ensure that scientific advice to management reflects this reality.
Dr Robert B Thorpe is a research scientist based at the Lowestoft Cefas laboratory. Robert has worked at Cefas since 2012. Prior to this, he worked at the UK Met Office, where he spent 10+ years designing, operating, and interpreting the output from global coupled climate models. Robert’s main lines of work at the Met Office involved modelling the thermohaline circulation (Gulf Stream) response to climate change, and being part of the team developing an operational air-quality model for the UK.
Robert has been working on modelling multispecies interactions in the NE Atlantic at Cefas since 2012. His current interest is in encouraging the uptake of multispecies modelling into the advisory process so that fisheries management can benefit from recent advances in modelling interacting fish stocks. He is also interested in incorporating environmental effects into stock assessments of widely-ranging stocks through the use of agent-based models.
Research Publications: Google Scholar, Research Gate
Highlighted publications:
Comparing conceptual frameworks for a fish community MSY (FCMSY) using management strategy evaluation—an example from the North Sea. RB Thorpe, JAA De Oliveira. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 2019
A general framework for combining ecosystem models. MA Spence, JL Blanchard, AG Rossberg, MR Heath, JJ Heymans, ...Fish and fisheries 19 (6), 1031-1042, 2018
A general approach to incorporating spatial and temporal variation in individual-based models of fish populations with application to Atlantic mackerel. R Boyd, S Roy, R Sibly, R Thorpe, K Hyder, Ecological Modelling 382, 9-17, 2018
