Most fishing communities from North Carolina to Maine are projected to face declining fishing options unless they adapt to climate change by catching different species or fishing in different areas, according to a study in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Most fishing communities from North Carolina to Maine are projected to face declining fishing options unless they adapt to climate change by catching different species or fishing in different areas, according to a study in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Some Maine fishing communities were at greatest risk of losing their current fishing options, according to the study by Rutgers and other scientists.
“Some communities like Portland, Maine, are on track to lose out, while others like Mattituck, New York, or Sandwich, Massachusetts, may do better as waters warm,” said senior author Malin Pinsky, an associate professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. “Adapting to climate change for many communities will require fundamentally new approaches to fishing. Change has become the new normal.”
Fishing has been the economic and cultural lifeblood for many coastal towns and cities along the Northeast coast, in some cases for hundreds of years, Pinsky said. But climate change is expected to have a major impact on the distribution, abundance and diversity of marine species worldwide, the study notes.
Read more at: Rutgers University-New Brunswick
The fishing harbor at Matinicus Isle, Maine. (Photo credit: Malin Pinsky/Rutgers University-New Brunswick)
