Changing Oceans and Changing Fisheries: Environmental Data for Fisheries
Research and Management
A Workshop


Executive Summary



Fisheries research and management encompass a broad range of activities directed towards maintaining sustainable fisheries, protected species such as marine mammals, and the marine ecosystems upon which they depend. Fluctuations in the marine environment on varied time and space scales have impacts on the abundance and distribution of populations; exploitation by man superimposed upon environmentally-induced fluctuations creates complex dynamics in marine populations. The demise of the California sardine, the Peruvian anchoveta, and fluctuations in Japanese sardine are important examples of how the environment can affect fisheries, leading to economic and societal consequences. There has thus been an increasing awareness of the importance of environmental variability in managing fishery populations, protected species, and ecosystems.

A workshop was convened at NOAA's Pacific Fisheries Environmental Group in Pacific Grove, California, on 16-18 July 1996, to examine the uses of environmental data for fisheries. The objectives of the workshop were to i) assess the current and future needs for environmental data bases (oceanographic, atmospheric, remote sensing, model output, and geological) in fisheries research and management, ii) identify data sources and formats, and iii) recommend ways to facilitate access to the data. The workshop brought together fisheries scientists, physical scientists, and environmental data specialists to address the following kinds of questions:

Participants represented a wide range of expertise and organizations, including most line offices of NOAA, NASA, the Navy, NSF, Canada, Great Britain, and 7 academic institutions. To provide common ground for subsequent discussions, presentations by fisheries scientists addressed how environmental data are used in fisheries-related investigations; physical and computer scientists described environmental data available, including that from ocean models and geophysical investigations. The workshop also included demonstrations of ocean model output and data management systems and poster presentations describing applications of environmental data to fisheries problems.

This background information provided an ideal backdrop for further discussions and generation of ideas. Five working groups convened during the workshop to address:

  • real-time or near real-time environmental data applications to fisheries,
  • retrospective environmental data applications to fisheries,
  • applications of oceanographic and atmospheric model output to fisheries,
  • data delivery systems, data accessibility criteria, and formats, and
  • opportunities and mechanisms for partnerships in fisheries oceanography.
    A total of 48 recommendations were generated by the working groups. These were further evaluated by participant voting to develop a set of twelve priority recommendations from the workshop. The high priority recommendations can be distilled to the following five themes:

    Develop baseline time series of the most important parameters: The two highest priority recommendations apply across real-time and retrospective working groups and point out the importance of i) developing the baseline against which perturbations are evaluated for both real time and retrospective aspects of environmental data use and ii) the importance of extending time series of important parameters back in time to evaluate resource fluctuations. These important parameters include ocean and atmospheric data, resource fluctuation data, and integrative time series that may include model output or proxy time series.

    Apply new environmental data technologies to fisheries problems: New and emerging technologies have the potential to change the way in which environmental data are applied to fisheries. These techniques, however, require further evaluation and demonstration projects to convince fisheries scientists and managers of their utility. Remote sensing, multi-beam sonar, numerical models, and other techniques are expanding more rapidly than the fisheries community can assimilate them into practical applications for research and management.

    Communication and sharing of expertise among disciplines and agencies: Fisheries research and management agencies are under pressure to conduct surveys, produce stock assessments, and conserve resources and habitats with often inadequate staffing. The levels of expertise required to incorporate the new technology into fisheries may need to come from other line offices of NOAA, from other agencies, and from the academic community. Mechanisms should be developed which will promote such communication and collaboration to solve high priority problems, including rotational assignments across agency boundaries and directed funding initiatives.

    Demonstration of the benefits of applied environmental data in fisheries: Projects demonstrating how environmental data, model output, or new environmental technologies can be applied to marine fisheries are required in order to promote their future use in the community. Past examples of crises in fisheries exist where environmental data or model output are available. In a retrospective fashion, the scientific community should be able to show how prudent use of these environmental data could have helped understand or predict the situation, thereby assisting in management decisions.

    Data accessibility for fisheries scientists: Fisheries scientists and managers are not always able to readily access the data required to do their jobs and to develop new, innovative approaches. More appropriate data bases and integrative time series, available on-line and in near real-time, must be developed.


     For further information, contact the convenors:

    George Boehlert, NOAA NMFS, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Pacific Fisheries Environmental Group, 1352 Lighthouse Avenue, Pacific Grove, CA 93950-2097 (gboehlert@pfeg.noaa.gov).

    Jim Schumacher, NOAA OAR, Pacific Marine Environmental Lab, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115-0070 (jdschu@pmel.noaa.gov).



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