{"id":4246,"date":"2012-11-14T14:38:20","date_gmt":"2012-11-14T18:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/edfish\/?p=4246"},"modified":"2012-11-21T17:08:48","modified_gmt":"2012-11-21T21:08:48","slug":"building-resilient-new-england-fisheries-in-the-face-of-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/edfish\/2012\/11\/14\/building-resilient-new-england-fisheries-in-the-face-of-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Resilient New England Fisheries in the Face of Climate Change"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo Credit: Natacha Hardy.
Alex Koeberle and Scituate Fisherman Frank Mirarchi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By:\u00a0Alex Koeberle and Jake Kritzer<\/p>\n

Following the hottest summer ever on record, the Atlantic coast was rocked recently by super storm Sandy, both stark reminders that climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events.\u00a0 This year had already seen effects of climate change take on a more prominent place in marine conservation debates.\u00a0 In July, renowned Australian ecologist Dr. Roger Bradbury argued that the fate of coral reefs<\/a> is essentially sealed due to warming waters, rising seas, acidification and extreme weather (although other prominent voices were quick to counter<\/a> such doomsday predictions).\u00a0 Closer to home, an effort to restore Atlantic salmon to the Connecticut River was ended<\/a> after nearly a half-century, in part because changing ocean currents, temperature regimes and plankton production might be impairing the ability of salmon to survive at sea and migrate back to spawn.<\/p>\n

It is not only salmon that are contending with effects of climate change in New England.\u00a0 The region is seeing sea levels rising<\/a> faster than many other places around the globe, which threatens to drown salt marshes already struggling with excessive nutrient loads<\/a>.\u00a0 Marshes help buffer coastal areas against storm surge, and provide vital nursery and feeding grounds for many important fish species.\u00a0 Ocean waters are not only rising but warming<\/a> as well, one consequence of which has been a dramatic shift in the distribution of cod<\/a> north of the primary fishing grounds in the western Gulf of Maine.\u00a0 Also, rainfall patterns are becoming increasingly erratic<\/a>, altering salinity profiles and plankton production, which hampers productivity of species throughout the food web.<\/p>\n

Slowing and even reversing effects of climate change will require serious efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions.\u00a0 Most of those efforts will be on the national and international level, beyond the scope of regional stakeholders and policymakers.\u00a0 Fishermen can, of course, contribute to CO2<\/sub> reductions by adopting fishing practices that are more fuel efficient.\u00a0 Fuel consumption has been decreasing<\/a> in recent years in response to flexibility offered by management reforms, which has also increased profitability<\/a> of the fleet.\u00a0 But there are also important steps to be taken by fishermen, fishing communities and fishery managers in the region to increase resilience of the ecosystem and fishing industry:<\/p>\n

Fishermen<\/strong><\/p>\n