February 13, 2025 — Dungeness crab, Pacific herring, and red abalone are among the marine species most vulnerable to the changing climate’s effect on California’s coastal waters, a new study led by UC Santa Cruz researchers finds. In a paper published on February in the journal PLOS Climate, the team seeks to help the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) in its efforts to develop and implement climate-ready fisheries management strategies that adapt to challenges such as rising ocean temperatures, acidification, and deoxygenation.
The study, “A Collaborative Climate Vulnerability Assessment of California Marine Fishery Species,” was led by Timothy Frawley, an assistant project scientist at UC Santa Cruz’s Institute of Marine Sciences, and Mikaela Provost, an assistant professor in UC Davis’s Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology. The study was done in close collaboration with CDFW, fisheries scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and individuals from the Nature Conservancy and California Ocean Protection Council.
“The results are striking,” Frawley said. “Some of California’s most economically and culturally important fisheries are assessed as being among the most vulnerable to projected future environmental changes.”