SEAFOODNEWS.COM by Michael Ramsingh — February 19, 2014 — A climate change study from NOAA has shed some light on how certain commercial fish stocks have shifted in the increasingly warming waters off New England's coast.
NOAA biologist John Manderson is working on a stock assesment project for butterfish that intends to map how the species has shifted from its normal ocean habitat due to changing water temperatures.
This chart shows NOAA's findings on how fish species along the New England and Atlantic East Coast have migrated further away from the shore, and common fishing grounds. Source: NOAA
Manderson is working with physical oceanographers that model fine-scale changes in ocean temperatures. He’s also working with stock assessment scientists to find a way to incorporate his mathematical adjustment into their fish population models.
So far the research has found that since 2006 fish along New England's coast have been migrating northeast, away from the shore, but more importantly farther from traditional fishing banks in the region.
This climate-induced migration has wrecked havoc on commericial groundfish fisheries in New England, particulary for cod stocks. According to a recent letter from the chair of the New England council to the head of the Dept. of Commerce, 2013 groundfish landings in New England will be around 43.4 million lbs, with revenue of only $55.8 million. This represents a 38% reduction in revenue since 2011.
Manderson's findings, paired with the groundfish situation in New England serve as an example of how US fishery management decisions have been impacted by recent shifts in the ocean environment and the ongoing need to incorporate more timely environemental data into commercial stock assessments.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.