Project: Adaptations of fish and fishing communities to rapid climate change

Acronym/Short Name:CC Fishery Adaptations
Project Duration:2014-09 - 2018-08
Geolocation:Northeast US Continental Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem

Description

Description from NSF award abstract:
Climate change presents a profound challenge to the sustainability of coastal systems. Most research has overlooked the important coupling between human responses to climate effects and the cumulative impacts of these responses on ecosystems. Fisheries are a prime example of this feedback: climate changes cause shifts in species distributions and abundances, and fisheries adapt to these shifts. However, changes in the location and intensity of fishing also have major ecosystem impacts. This project's goal is to understand how climate and fishing interact to affect the long-term sustainability of marine populations and the ecosystem services they support. In addition, the project will explore how to design fisheries management and other institutions that are robust to climate-driven shifts in species distributions. The project focuses on fisheries for summer flounder and hake on the northeast U.S. continental shelf, which target some of the most rapidly shifting species in North America. By focusing on factors affecting the adaptation of fish, fisheries, fishing communities, and management institutions to the impacts of climate change, this project will have direct application to coastal sustainability. The project involves close collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and researchers will conduct regular presentations for and maintain frequent dialogue with the Mid-Atlantic and New England Fisheries Management Councils in charge of the summer flounder and hake fisheries. To enhance undergraduate education, project participants will design a new online laboratory investigation to explore the impacts of climate change on fisheries, complete with visualization tools that allow students to explore inquiry-driven problems and that highlight the benefits of teaching with authentic data. This project is supported as part of the National Science Foundation's Coastal Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability program - Coastal SEES.

The project will address three questions:
1) How do the interacting impacts of fishing and climate change affect the persistence, abundance, and distribution of marine fishes?
2) How do fishers and fishing communities adapt to species range shifts and related changes in abundance? and
3) Which institutions create incentives that sustain or maximize the value of natural capital and comprehensive social wealth in the face of rapid climate change?

An interdisciplinary team of scientists will use dynamic range and statistical models with four decades of geo-referenced data on fisheries catch and fish biogeography to determine how fish populations are affected by the cumulative impacts of fishing, climate, and changing species interactions. The group will then use comprehensive information on changes in fisher behavior to understand how fishers respond to changes in species distribution and abundance. Interviews will explore the social, regulatory, and economic factors that shape these strategies. Finally, a bioeconomic model for summer flounder and hake fisheries will examine how spatial distribution of regulatory authority, social feedbacks within human communities, and uncertainty affect society's ability to maintain natural and social capital.


DatasetLatest Version DateCurrent State
Total catches and estimated revenue by species for communities-at-sea based on landings reported on Vessel Trip Reports2019-04-24Final no updates expected
Projected changes in habitat suitability for 33 marine species on the Northeast US shelf based on species distribution models fit to bottom trawl survey data from the NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center2019-04-22Final no updates expected
Attributes of communities-at-sea, including the size of servicesheds and climate change risk exposure scores, determined from Vessel Trip Report (VTR) data for commercial fishing trips from 1996 to 20142019-04-22Final no updates expected
North American marine species distribution projections during the 21st century2019-03-21Final no updates expected
Trawl survey data and species distribution model predictions for presence, absence and abundance2019-03-05Final no updates expected
Predicted probability of occupancy and abundance under a doubling of carbon dioxide using simulations from GFDL CM2.62019-03-05Final no updates expected
Home range and body size data compiled from the literature for marine and terrestrial vertebrates2019-01-31Final no updates expected
Changes in groundfish fishing communities in the northeast US from 1997-2014 as captured in the vessel trip report (VTR) data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA-NMFS-NEFSC)2019-01-09Final no updates expected
Edge-lists for all US west coast port-group participation networks and for the entire coast from 2009-2010 for US California Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME)2018-10-26Final no updates expected

People

Principal Investigator: Eli Fenichel
Yale University

Principal Investigator: Simon Levin
Princeton University

Principal Investigator: Malin Pinsky
Rutgers University

Co-Principal Investigator: Bonnie McCay
Rutgers University

Co-Principal Investigator: Julia Olson
Northeast Fisheries Science Center - National Marine Fisheries Service (NEFSC-SSB)

Co-Principal Investigator: Kevin St. Martin
Rutgers University

Contact: Malin Pinsky
Rutgers University


Data Management Plan

DMP_Pinsky_OCE-1426891.pdf (122.77 KB)
02/09/2025