January 6, 2026 — Fisheries in Maine are a vital resource in our state. They provide thousands with jobs and millions with sustainable protein. But now warming waters are making it more difficult to manage the ins and outs of the industry.
The Gulf of Maine continues to be the fastest-warming body of water—2024 went down as the 12th warmest year on record. Changes like this are affecting marine life and causing local fisheries to conduct research and restructure in order to remain successful.
That is the focus of Jonathan Labaree, the Chief Community Officer at GMRI. Understanding how the industry is adapting reveals the complex challenge facing Maine’s fishing communities. “When we think about fisheries, we think about it in sort of four pieces,” Labaree explains. “The first piece is the resource itself. So the fish themselves and the people who harvest the fish, the place in which that’s happening, and then the kind of gear, the resources that they use to harvest those fish.”
Climate change is having different kinds of impacts on fisheries. The major one is that species are shifting their location. Fish are very responsive to temperature, so they have a tendency to move to find optimal temperature ranges for themselves.
These shifting species create a new dynamic around predator and prey relationships, fundamentally altering the ecosystem that fishermen depend on.