Join us for a Bio at Noon seminar from Dr. Rich Bell of The Nature Conservancy titled, "Managing fisheries in the face of climate change."

Abstract: The abundance and distribution of natural marine resources can be heavily impacted by fishing and the environment. While the effects of fishing are directly incorporated into assessments and management, the effects of environmental change can be harder to quantify and are therefore, rarely accounted for in management regulations. Nonetheless, long-term trends in environmental forcing are impacting the distribution, phenology, and productivity of harvested species. We examine the evidence for climate-driven changes on an iconic Narragansett Bay species, Winter flounder, as well as other species and the implications for their futures. Incorporating downscaled temperature projections into population models indicates that a sustained high population of winter flounder is unlikely in Southern New England and that other local flatfish species may also exhibit declining productivity trends. An adaptive management framework based on a long-term climate strategy, increased monitoring, accountability on the water, predefined flexible regulations, and real-time infrastructure has the potential to mitigate many of the impacts of climate change on fisheries.