Jacob Eurich
Small-Scale Fisheries Solutions Scientist
Work
Jacob is focused on building healthy, equitable, and sustainable blue food systems by increasing the resilience of fisheries to climate change and other stressors. As a student of marine ecology, he has a diverse understanding of ecological theory. He uses this background to study social-ecological systems across scales, ranging from the impacts of coral bleaching on small-scale fisheries to global ecosystem function, fisheries dynamics, and food security. He investigates how global change in marine systems impacts human health, conservation, and governance to embed his disciplinary expertise into broader fisheries and food system narratives.
Background
Jacob joined EDF in 2022 after working as a faculty researcher at the Marine Science Institute, UC Santa Barbara and a postdoctoral scholar at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, UC Santa Barbara. Prior to that he worked as a resident researcher and marine educator at the Mahonia Na Dari Research and Conservation Centre in Papua New Guinea and with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife as a fisheries scientist.
He is currently a principal investigator for the Pacific Planetary Health Initiative, a collaborative, international, and interdisciplinary study of the Micronesian, Melanesian, and Polynesian people of the Pacific Islands, and is an explorer and photographer with the Explorer Club where he leads research expeditions to the Indo-Pacific.
Education
PhD in Marine Ecology, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University
Publications
For an updated list, please visit publications here.
Mills, KE, D Armitage, JG Eurich, KM Kleisner, G Pecl, K Tokunaga (2022). Co-production of knowledge and strategies to support climate resilient fisheries. ICES Journal of Marine Science. fsac110.
Golden, CD 1, J Ayroles 1, JG Eurich 1, JA Gephart 1, KL Seto 1, MK Sharp 1, P Balcom, HM Barravecchia, KK Bell, KD Gorospe, J Kim, WH Koh, J Zamborain-Mason, DJ McCauley, H Murdoch, K Neeti, S Passarelli, A Specht, E Sunderland, A Tekaieti, A Tekiau, R Tekoaua, E Timeon (2022). Study protocol: interactive dynamics between coral reef fisheries and the nutrition transition in Kiribati. Frontiers in Public Health. 10:890381. 1 Denotes first co-authorship
Andrew, NL, EH Allison, T Brewer, J Connell, H Eriksson, JG Eurich, A Farmery, JA Gephart, CD Golden, M Herrero, K Mapusua, KL Seto, MK Sharp, P Thornton, AM Thow, J Tutoa (2022). Continuity and change in the contemporary Pacific food system. Global Food Security. 32:100608.
Mason, JG 1, JG Eurich 1, JD Lau 1, W Battista, CM Free KE Mills, K Tokunaga, , LZ Zhao, M Dickey-Collas, M Valle, G Pecl, J Cinner, TR McClanahan, EH Allison, WR Friedman, C Silva, E Yáñez, MÁ Barbieri, KM Kleisner (2022). Attributes of climate resilience in fisheries: from theory to practice. Fish and Fisheries. 00:1-23. 1 Denotes first co-authorship
Golden, CD, JZ Koehn, A Shepon, S Passarelli, C Free, D Viana, H Matthey, JG Eurich, JA Gephart, E Fluet-Chouinnard, E Nyboer, A Lynch, M Kjellevold, S Bromage, P Charlebois, M Barange, S Vannuccini, L Cao, KM Kleisner, EB Rimm, G Danaei, C DeSisto, H Kelahan, KJ Fiorella, DC Little, EH Allison, J Fanzo, SH Thilsted (2021). Aquatic foods for nourishing nations. Nature. 1–6.
Golden, CD, JA Gephart, JG Eurich, DJ McCauley, MK Sharp, NL Andrew, KL Seto (2021). Social-ecological traps link food systems to nutritional outcomes. Global Food Security. 30:100561.
Farrell, P, AM Thow, JT Wate, N Nonga, P Vatucawaqa, T Brewer, MK Sharp, A Farmery, H Trevena, E Reeve, H Eriksson, I Gonzalez, G Mulcahy, JG Eurich, NL Andrew (2020). COVID-19 and Pacific food system resilience: opportunities to build a robust response. Food Security. 12:783–791.
Eurich, JG, JK Matley, R Baker, MI McCormick, GP Jones (2019). Stable isotope analysis reveals trophic diversity and partitioning in territorial damselfishes on a low-latitude coral reef. Marine Biology. 166:17.
Eurich, JG, MI McCormick, GP Jones (2018). Domino effect: direct and indirect effects of interspecific competition in a highly partitioned guild of reef fishes. Ecosphere. 9:e02389.
Eurich, JG 1, SM Shomaker 1, MI McCormick, GP Jones (2018). Herbivore foraging dynamics after the removal of an abundant territorial damselfish in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology & Ecology. 506:155–162. 1 Denotes first co-authorship
Richardson, LE, NAJ Graham, MS Pratchett, JG Eurich, AS Hoey (2018). Mass coral bleaching causes biotic homogenization of reef fish assemblages. Global Change Biology. 24:3117–3129.
Eurich, JG, MI McCormick, GP Jones (2018). Habitat selection and aggression as determinants of fine-scale partitioning of coral reef zones in a guild of territorial damselfishes. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 587:201–215.
Eurich, JG, RL Selden, RR Warner (2014). California spiny lobster preference for urchins from kelp forests: implications for urchin barren persistence. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 498:217–225.