WGBH News in Boston gives viewers an in-depth look at the impacts of climate change and rising ocean temperatures on New England's commercial fishing industry.
Editor's Note: In an email version, a statement below incorrectly stated that fish were moving toward warmer waters instead of towards their normal, cooler temperatures. It has been corrected below.
BOSTON (WGBH) — July 24, 2014 — WGBH's coverage features informative interviews and a panel discussion with the Northeast Seafood Coalition's Executive Director Jackie Odell and the National Marine Fisheries Service's (NMFS) Northeast Regional Administrator John Bullard.
Protecting and maintaining New England's commercial fisheries in the face of warming waters is a multifaceted challenge, Mr. Bullard explains. He tells WGBH News that ocean temperatures, sea level, and even chemistry – specifically pH acidity – are all changing and impacting fish stocks. And the impacts of these shifts are not short term either, Mr. Bullard says. "We need to understand and be prepared for the fact that some of these things are linked to trends like ocean warming that are probably not going to reverse," he warned. One such serious long-term impact, according to Mr. Bullard, is the migration of fish stocks away from their warming natural habitat toward cooler waters.
Based in Gloucester, Mass., the Northeast Seafood Coalition's Executive Director Jackie Odell says that New England's fishermen aren't alone in needing to adapt their practices to changing ocean temperatures. She explains that fisheries management will also need to accommodate shifting environmental conditions. Ms. Odell shares with WGBH her concerns that regulators must devise more productive rebuilding goals, plans, and timelines for groundfish stocks as changes in the ocean ecosystem become increasingly apparent. "If we are going to have less productivity occurring because of warming water temperatures, then we need to factor that into our stock assessments and into our rebuilding goals, and we presently don't do that," she said.
Watch the full news segment from WGBH News