Catalyzing Steps Towards Climate-Ready Fishing Communities in California

The final summary report from July’s Fishing Communities workshop is now available.

Fishermen are used to responding to predictable shifts in ocean conditions that alter fishing opportunities in time and space. However,changing ocean conditions as a result of climate change present new and unpredictable challenges that are already resulting in social and economic impacts within California coastal fishing communities.

The California Marine Life Management Act (MLMA) specifically highlights that fisheries management should recognize the long-term interests of people dependent on fishing, and adverse impacts of management measures on fishing communities are to be minimized. As ocean conditions change, however, achieving this goal requires new policy and management tools, including a better understanding the science and data needed to select and test new approaches.

Current practices in California fisheries management will present a hurdle to social and economic stability, and sustainability of the fisheries themselves, as climate change impacts increase. The question, therefore, is: how can California fisheries management begin adapting today to minimize or avoid the undesirable ecological, social, and economic effects of climate change to the largest extent possible?

Ocean Science Trust will convene a one-day workshop, in coordination with California Fish and Game Commission, Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Ocean Protection Council staff, and through generous support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, to bring together fisheries managers, conservation practitioners, and academic scientists to share and discuss tools, science, and approaches being tested and used to continue the trajectory of sustainable fisheries under new climate-driven conditions. The workshop will draw on the expertise and lessons learned from domestic and international fisheries to help inform California’s own approach to these challenges.

The full agenda for July’s workshop can be found here.