Science for a better world

The SeaBOS initiative resulted from keystone dialogues, which originated from a scientific interest in understanding global power in the seafood industry. The initiative expanded our scientific horizons and created new insights into how scientists could engage in and facilitate corporate engagement in ocean stewardship. We identified enabling conditions and barriers and how cooperation can be initiated and developed. Despite a narrow focus on the seafood industry, there may be general insights to be drawn from these experiences, of relevance for other sectors. In the initial stages of SeaBOS, we worried that action-oriented engagement with corporations would distract from science. Subsequently, we realized that instead, it created unprecedented scientific opportunities. The interest in our work grew as we published on what we had learned, and we were empowered by the attention and interest that SeaBOS generated. We started dreaming about a science that could inspire hope for a better world.