NOAA Fisheries is seeking input from the public on how to make fisheries, including aquaculture, and protected resources more resilient to climate change, including changes in management and conservation measures, and improvements in science, monitoring, and cooperative research (Executive Order 14008, Section 216(c) issued January 27, 2021).
Comments are due by April 2nd, 2021 and can be submitted to: OceanResources.Climate@noaa.gov. NOAA states that they are optimistic that this comment period is the beginning of a longer process to engage stakeholders on climate change and fisheries. See NOAA’s website for more information.
As anglers who care about conservation of fishery resources, this is a chance to reiterate the importance of strong and sustainable management in response to climate change. Research has shown that fisheries, protected resources, and their habitats and ecosystems are being affected by climate change. Impacts affecting the distribution and abundance of marine species include warming oceans, increasing acidification, and rising seas. These and other changes are having dramatic effects on both fisheries and the communities that depend on them.
While discussions on climate change are increasingly delivered as polemics, common sense urges taking a precautionary approach. Most importantly, responding to climate change calls for us to redouble the very same efforts that anglers, conservation organizations, and scientists have been urging upon NOAA for the last three decades – it just becomes increasingly urgent.
