PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 8, 2022
Far-reaching and calamitous effects reverberate here, where the Northern shrimp fishery faces permanent closure, the Atlantic cod fishery continues to weaken, and the threat of shutting down the lucrative and conservation-minded lobster fishery looms in the wake of troubling declines in North Atlantic right whales. Climate change is a key factor in these disturbing declines. Since fishing is not the root cause, it is uncertain whether modulating fishing effort will have the desired outcome of species recovery. What we need are climate-smart approaches to manage species in an era of climate uncertainty. True climate-informed management demands innovative thinking to reshape reactive fishing-centric approaches into proactive climate-centric ones. The first step is recognizing the source of the problem: climate change. ~ Janet Duffy-Anderson, Ph.D., chief scientific officer, Gulf of Maine Research Institute