Helping fisheries adapt to a warming ocean

Atlantic cod © NOAA Fisheries

Waters off the Northeastern United States are among the fastest warming and most studied in the world's ocean. Both abrupt and subtle changes caused by warming are evident in fishery stocks now, and Center researchers are working on tools for understanding what that means for future stock conditions and the fisheries that depend on them.

Can science help fisheries adapt to a warming ocean?

Armed with decades of data and a strong appreciation of what climate change could mean for fisheries, Center researchers are focusing on science to help navigate this rapidly evolving future.

In 2016, the Center released a fisheries climate action plan for the region. In 2018, Congress provided funding to pursue that plan. Our Center responded with projects that would result in the greatest benefit in the near-term. It's a multi-year, dedicated effort to create the kind of information needed as we strive to maintain viable fisheries in a warming world ocean.

Ten projects are underway to improve stock assessments through new modeling, better surveys, and more work to understand the vulnerabilities of coastal communities to climate change. Some of these are new, but some support existing projects.

While no single project can do the job, the combined results along with stronger regional collaborations and partnerships can make progress.

Who is involved?

To meet this challenge, collaboration is essential. Center scientists are working with research partners from around the region:

• Commercial longline fishermen
  
• Delaware Sea Grant
  
• Gulf of Maine Research Institute
  
• NOAA Ocean and Atmospheric Research
  
• NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory
  
• NOAA Earth Systems Research Laboratory
  
• Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries
  
• Rutgers University Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences
  
• Stony Brook The State University of New York
  
• University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
  
• Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution