U.S. and Canadian researchers have developed a new tool that incorporates projected changes in ocean climate onto specific fishery management areas.
U.S. and Canadian researchers have developed a new tool that incorporates projected changes in ocean climate onto specific fishery management areas. Now fishermen, resource managers, and policy-makers can use it to plan for the future sustainability of the lobster fishery in Nova Scotia and Canadian waters of the Gulf of Maine as waters warm.
“Climate change has socio-economic impacts on coastal communities and the seafood market, but integrating that information into planning and decision-making has been a challenge,” said Vincent Saba, a fishery biologist at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center and a co-author of the study. “Ocean warming is leading to an accelerated redistribution of marine species. Knowing how animals will shift distribution, and what to do about shifts across management borders both regional and international, will be critical to planning on how to adapt to those changes.”
American lobster is Canada’s most valuable fishery, contributing 44 percent of the total commercial value of all fisheries in Atlantic Canada in 2016. Lobster landings have been trending upward in recent decades, and many small rural communities in Atlantic Canada rely heavily on lobster for their economic well-being. Changing climate could have a significant impact on the fishery and on those communities.
Researchers from Fisheries and Oceans Canada at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Halifax, Nova Scotia and at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center collaborated on the study.
Read more at NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center
Photo Credit: 1681551 via Pixabay
