A new report from NOAA Fisheries identifies challenges and recommendations to better detect, understand, assess, and manage shifting distributions and changing productivity of marine species with changing climate and ocean conditions.
Fisheries in a Changing Climate
There are numerous challenges facing fisheries management under changing climate and ocean conditions. A new report from NOAA Fisheries identifies these challenges and makes recommendations on how NOAA can better detect, understand, assess, and manage shifting distributions and changing productivity of marine species with changing climate and ocean conditions.
Shifts in species distributions and changes in productivity present challenges for fisheries management. As ocean temperatures warm, species move to remain within their preferred temperature ranges. These shifts may cross fishery management boundaries and impact where fishermen have to go to find their catch. Additionally, changes in climate, ocean, and ecosystem conditions can impact species’ vital rates. This could lead to changes in stock productivity and the amount of fish available to be caught…