Gary D. Sharp
Credentials
- Doctor of Philosophy, Marine Biology, Univ. of California (1972).1“Gary D. Sharp: Resume,” Sharpgary.org. Accessed February, 2012.
- Master of Science, Biology, San Diego State University (1968).2“Gary D. Sharp: Resume,” Sharpgary.org. Accessed February, 2012.
- Bachelor of Science, Zoology, San Diego State University (1967).3“Gary D. Sharp: Resume,” Sharpgary.org. Accessed February, 2012.
Background
Gary D. Sharp was Adjunct Professor of the Fisheries Centre at the University of British Columbia from 1993 to 2004. He currently works as an independent consultant in “ocean resources related climate-oceanography.”4“Gary D. Sharp: Resume,” Sharpgary.org. Accessed February, 2012.
Sharp operates a small website that links to articles and resources from many well-known climate change skeptics and promotes Sharp’s book, Out of Fisherman’s Hands.
Stance on Climate Change
“Modest changes in temperature are not about to wipe them [coral reefs] out. Neither will increased carbon dioxide, which is a fundamental chemical building block that allows coral reefs to exist at all. It is their and our friend, generally, not the enemy.” Congress and environmental organizations, he wrote, should “focus their concern – against the real pollutants and real human damage caused to these rain forests of the sea.”5Gary D. Sharp. “Coral Bleaching: What (or Who) Dunnit?” TCS Daily, April 26, 2006.
Key Quotes
“The oceans are now heading into one of their periodic phases of cooling… . Modest changes in temperature are not about to wipe them [coral] out. Neither will increased carbon dioxide, which is a fundamental chemical building block that allows coral reefs to exist at all.”6“We cannot let the Kyoto debacle happen again,” The Guardian, February 4, 2007. Accessed November 16, 2011.
Key Deeds
May 2010
Sharp was a speaker at the Heartland Institute’s Fourth International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC4) in Chicago. DeSmog has done research on the co-sponsors of the conference and found that 19 of the 65 sponsors (including Heartland itself) have received a total of over $40 million in funding since 1985 from ExxonMobil, Koch Industries family foundations or the Scaife family foundations.
Sharp’s speech, titled “Projecting Climate Changes and Ecological Responses – Coping with Changes” can be viewed below.7“4th International Conference on Climate Change” (PDF), The Heartland Institute. Retrieved February, 2012, from Laurence I. Gould’s personal website at the University of Hartford.
March 2008
Sharp is listed as a “Climate Expert” who signed the 2008 Manhattan Declaration on Climate Change.8“CLIMATE EXPERTS WHO SIGNED MANHATTAN DECLARATION,” International Climate Science Coalition. Accessed February, 2012.
The Manhattan Declaration was first presented at the Heartland Institute’s 2008 International conference on Climate Change and declares that “global warming is not a global crisis.”
Those who sign must also agree that “global climate has always changed and always will, independent of the actions of humans, and that carbon dioxide (CO2) is not a pollutant but rather a necessity for all life;” and that “costly regulations on industry and individual citizens to encourage CO2 emission reduction will slow development while having no appreciable impact on the future trajectory of global climate change.” The declaration also notes that “warmer weather is generally less harmful to life on Earth than colder.”
The Manhattan Declaration is promoted by the International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC) which is directed by Tom Harris. The Advisory Boards of the ICSC are filled with global warming skeptics including Tim Ball, David Bellamy, Scott Armstrong, Vincent Gray, Kesten Green, Chris de Freitas, and Nils-Axel Morner.
December 2007
Sharp signed a 2007 open letter to Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon which claims that global warming is a natural phenomenon, and that the IPCC’s assessment reports are not adequate as justification for climate change policy.9“Open Letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations,” December 16, 2007. Reprinted by the Science and Public Policy Institute.
April 2006
Sharp was a signatory to a 2006 open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper that urged the government avoid implementing anti-climate-change policy.
November 2004
Sharp was signatory to a 2004 open letter to John McCain which denounced findings by the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA). The letter was signed by other skeptics including Richard Lindzen, Tim Ball, David Legates, Pat Michaels, Roy W. Spencer, Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas.
The letter concludes that the “Arctic climate has and will continue to exhibit intricate patterns not reliably reproduced by global climate simulations, thus underscoring their scientific incompleteness and need for advances in Arctic climate science, in measurements, theory and models.”10“Climate Experts Respond to Arctic Climate Impact Assessment,” PRNewswire, November 16, 2004. Republished by the Frontier Center for Public Policy, November 20, 2004. Archived June 19, 2010.
In summary, the letter describes temperature changes in the Arctic as being a natural variance in temperatures.
Affiliations
- The Center for Climate/Ocean Resources Study
Sharp runs the “Center for Climate/Ocean Resources Study” in Salinas, California. A search for the Center for Climate/Ocean Resources Study yields Sharp’s personal website and the listed address for the Resources Study also appears to be Sharp’s home address.
- International Climate and Environmental Change Assessment Project (ICECAP) — “Expert.”11“Experts,” ICECAP. Accessed November 16, 2011.
- The Heartland Institute — Speaker at the Heartland Institute’s 2010 International Conference on Climate Change.
- Tech Central Station (TCS) — Past contributor and member of the “Science Roundtable.”12“Gary D. Sharp,” SourceWatch. 13“Dr. Gary D. Sharp,” Tech Central Station. Archived September 27, 2005.
Publications
According to a search of Google Scholar, Sharp has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals on fisheries. He also appears to have published two papers on the subject of climate:
- Sharp, G.D. “Future climate change and regional fisheries: a collaborative analysis.”
FAO Fisheries Technical Paper. No. 452. Rome, FAO. 2003. 75p. - “Climate Change and Ocean Processes: What are the consequences?: summary paper from January 1990 symposium,” Texas Institute of Oceanography (1990). See full paper at Sharpgary.org.
The Fisheries and Aquaculture Department (FAO) does not appear to be a peer-reviewed journal.14“About us – Fisheries and Aquaculture Department,” Accessed November 16, 2011.
His second paper is a summary of a 1990 symposium and was not published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Other Publications:
- Gary D. Sharp, Leonid Klyashtorin, and James Goodridge. “Climate and Fisheries: Costs and Benefits of Change” (PDF) International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade.
- Gary D. Sharp, Menakhem Ben-Yami, and James R. McGoodwin. OUT OF FISHERMEN’S HANDS… Fishermen’s Role In Society and Natural Systems (PDF).
- Gary D. Sharp & CAS Hall, “Neoclassical Economics and Fisheries” in Making Development Work:a new role for science, Gregoire Leclerc and Charles A.S. Hall (Eds) 2007 University of New Mexico Press
- Gary D. Sharp, Leonid Klyashtorin & George Taylor, “Climate and Fisheries: Forecasting Contextual Changes, Instead of Hindcasting from Meaningless Means,” Proceedings of the 2004 World Fisheries Conference, Vancouver, B,C. -2007 American Fisheries Society Press.
Other Resources
- “A Chronology of Events, Places, Ecological and Societal Impacts,” Sharpgary.org. Accessed Nov 15, 2011.
- “ICECAP,” SourceWatch.
- “ExxonSecrets Factsheet: Gary D. Sharp,” ExxonSecrets.
- “84 of Inhofe’s Global Warming Deniers Have Taken Industry Money,” The Daily Green. January 10, 2008. Archived July 30, 2008.
Resources
- 1“Gary D. Sharp: Resume,” Sharpgary.org. Accessed February, 2012.
- 2“Gary D. Sharp: Resume,” Sharpgary.org. Accessed February, 2012.
- 3“Gary D. Sharp: Resume,” Sharpgary.org. Accessed February, 2012.
- 4“Gary D. Sharp: Resume,” Sharpgary.org. Accessed February, 2012.
- 5Gary D. Sharp. “Coral Bleaching: What (or Who) Dunnit?” TCS Daily, April 26, 2006.
- 6“We cannot let the Kyoto debacle happen again,” The Guardian, February 4, 2007. Accessed November 16, 2011.
- 7“4th International Conference on Climate Change” (PDF), The Heartland Institute. Retrieved February, 2012, from Laurence I. Gould’s personal website at the University of Hartford.
- 8“CLIMATE EXPERTS WHO SIGNED MANHATTAN DECLARATION,” International Climate Science Coalition. Accessed February, 2012.
- 9“Open Letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations,” December 16, 2007. Reprinted by the Science and Public Policy Institute.
- 10“Climate Experts Respond to Arctic Climate Impact Assessment,” PRNewswire, November 16, 2004. Republished by the Frontier Center for Public Policy, November 20, 2004. Archived June 19, 2010.
- 11“Experts,” ICECAP. Accessed November 16, 2011.
- 12“Gary D. Sharp,” SourceWatch.
- 13“Dr. Gary D. Sharp,” Tech Central Station. Archived September 27, 2005.
- 14“About us – Fisheries and Aquaculture Department,” Accessed November 16, 2011.
