Climate-ready and resilient fisheries: using satellite data to conserve and manage life in the ocean and support sustainable fisheries

Abstract:

Billions of people rely on fish as their primary source of protein and income. In recognition of the direct benefits to humans from healthy oceans, the U.N. adopted Sustainable Development Goal 14 to conserve and sustainably use marine resources. Yet, fisheries sustainability continues to be challenged by overfishing, high levels of non-target or discarded catch and projected climate change. Working directly with fisheries stakeholders, we are developing the Fisheries and Climate Toolkit (FaCeT) to increase our understanding of the linked physical and biological ocean and provide applications to support climate-ready and sustainable fisheries. FaCeT uses satellite, in situ biological and fishery-based data streams to develop online products and applications that will allow fisheries stakeholders to track dynamic distributions of species and fisheries of interest, monitor fishery-species interactions and exploitation “hotspots”, and integrate fishery-relevant ocean anomalies and climate projections to inform climate-resilient fisheries management. Products are developed in direct collaboration with stakeholders and will forecast dynamic species and vessel distributions under different anomaly and climate change scenarios across near (days to months), medium (years) and long-term (decades) timescales. These tools necessitate advances in effectively quantifying and communicating uncertainty to stakeholders with a focus on incorporating uncertainty into decision processes. We anticipate using FaCeT tools to assess closure efficacy, explore ways to reduce bycatch and non-target interactions, and inform adaptive management strategies. Through consistent engagement with stakeholders, we aim to use the knowledge and tools developed in this project to create relevant products to support sustainable, climate-resilient fisheries in U.S. and international fisheries.