The Fisheries Ecosystems Laboratory (LabPesq) is based at the University of São Paulo’s Oceanographic Institute, in São Paulo city campus, acting in several coastal municipalities and marine areas in Brazil and abroad. Research facilities host up to 10 students/researchers and allow data collection at field and in laboratory.

Its mission is to develop teaching, research, and extension activities in the field of Fisheries Oceanography and contemporary Fisheries Sciences, integrating several disciplines and knowledge systems. Principles include the dialogue between natural and social sciences especially in respect to the ecosystem approach to fisheries, oceans governance, natural resource economics, and use of biodiversity. The vision and treatment of fisheries as complex socio-ecological systems allow the transit among quantitative (ecosystem modelling, population models, biophysical models, projections), empirical (processes, dynamics, fluxes, rates, behavior, local knowledge) and theorethical-conceptual (associated with the use of indicators, ethno-knowledge, social organizations, resilience, sustentability, vulnerability) approaches.

LabPesq participates of international and national research networks, with the collaboration of centres of excellence in the field (Canada, South Africa, United Kingdom Australia, United States, among others).

Several extension projects occur in fishing communities, promoting sustainable practices, advicing public policies, in the form of lectures, talks, working groups, and participating in events, discussion panes, and local visits.