May 2, 2022 — Officials who oversee fishing in the Gulf of Maine and the entire East Coast are taking a hard look at how fishery regulations will need to evolve in order to keep up with the accelerated and unpredictable changes wrought by climate change.
Fishery managers from organizations across the eastern seaboard are brainstorming scenarios they could face in the coming decades as water temperatures rise, fish stocks fluctuate and species push into new areas.
Several fishery experts said they’ll likely have to reimagine how management has worked in the past.
“I think people are recognizing that small little tweaks and band aids might not be what we need here,” said Deirdre Boelke, a fishery analyst at the New England Fishery Management Council and one of the leaders working on the scenario planning effort.
Even before the effects of climate change were more widely known, fisheries management had a reputation for being complex and cumbersome. There are various layers of governance, with councils and managers making decisions at the state, regional, coastwide and national levels.
“To say that it’s a glacial process is putting it kindly,” said Gib Brogan, a fisheries analyst at Oceana, an international conservation group.
Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News