Climate change is affecting the ocean and impacting marine ecosystems in the united states

A changing ocean will influence the location, distribution, and productivity of fish stocks sought by recreational and commercial fishers throughout the country. The distributions of protected species like marine mammals and sea turtles will also be affected by changing conditions. This project seeks to demonstrate the ability to use numerical climate and oceanographic information to predict how a changing ocean will influence the distribution and growth of marine resources and their habitats around hawaii and the united states pacific islands. These predictions will be used to estimate the shifts in fisheries catches and interactions with protected species. Combined with socioeconomic information, these predictions will facilitate improved climate-informed stock assessments and management strategies. As part of a nationwide effort, this project will help build an ocean modeling and decision support system needed to reduce impacts, increase resilience, and help adapt to changing ocean conditions. These results will be shared with other research entities to create a coordinated output of climate-informed fisheries hindcasts and forecasts. The system will provide decision makers with the actionable information and capacity they need to prepare for and respond to changing conditions today, next year, and for decades to come.