Our ability to predict when, where, and which fishing communities will be impacted by climate-driven disasters is limited, making insurance and other risk-pooling techniques intriguing potential tools to help communities weather a crisis. Recent innovations in the climate insurance space – such as directly insuring nature – have spurred new thinking for applications in climate-ready fisheries, but there is much research and collaboration to be done before these ideas can be translated from theory to practice.
Ocean Science Trust aims to improve current policy, incubate new approaches, and advance thinking on fisheries insurance for the West Coast through innovative science and collaboration. With OST’s trusted relationships with government entities, the nonprofit sector, and fisheries experts and our mission to strengthen the bridge between science and policy, we have the opportunity to bring together a diverse audience to consider science and data needs, knowledge gaps, and barriers to insurance as a tool for coastal community resilience.
OST hosted an in-person workshop on May 2nd, 2025, to explore insurance for West Coast wild capture fisheries and fishing community resilience under a changing climate. The workshop brought together experts and perspectives from academia, fishing communities, state agencies, and the insurance industry to develop a shared understanding of the risks facing fishing communities and whether insurance innovations may help support commercial fishermen and local fishing economies into the future. Through a series of presentations, the group discussed recent findings, pilot projects, and evolving thinking around fisheries insurance. In the afternoon, workshop participants rolled up their sleeves to brainstorm potential designs and themes emerging for fishery insurance products, and identified science and information gaps that are barriers to advancing potentially helpful insurance tools.
Developing an insurance product for commercial West Coast fisheries is a multifaceted process with potential for enhancing economic resilience against environmental shocks. In our report, we summarize discussions and ideas from the workshop that we translated to an outline of steps that could be taken toward developing an insurance product for West Coast fisheries, including development phases, key partners and their roles, and the establishment of a multi-sector working group. See Full Report for more details, and accompanying briefing handout.
Last updated September 2025.
