PORTLAND, Maine — August 2, 2013 — John Bullard, northeast regional administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries, sees climate change as not just a cause for immediate alarm, but also an opportunity.
“A crisis is a horrible thing to waste. It looks like a normal day out there, but it’s not — it’s not normal,” Bullard said Thursday during the second day of the two-day first-ever Climate of Change conference, organized by the Rockland-based Island Institute, on the Portland waterfront.
Following the previous day’s discussion of diversifying Maine’s fishing industry, Thursday’s focus was adapting policy and research methods to respond to an environment affected by climate change.
The group, a mix of academics, scientists, lawmakers and fishermen, largely agreed that the need for a dialogue between commercial fisherman, policymakers and the scientific community is pressing.
A central theme from the morning discussion was obvious — change is close, and it’s necessary.
Participants all seemed to agree that many of the current research and policy methods are not flexible or nimble enough to keep up with the rate of change in the climate. The migration of cold-water fish to the north, among other factors, makes data collection and lawmaking complicated.
Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News