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Using diverse expertise to advance climate change fisheries science
Citation:
Mulvaney, K. AND C. Druschke. Using diverse expertise to advance climate change fisheries science. Ocean & Coastal Management. Elsevier, Shannon, Ireland, 149:175-185, (2017).
Impact/Purpose:
This article highlights the value of public participation in fisheries research for climate change. It identifies concerns of the fishing community and researchers related to climate change and fisheries, and some of our limitations in terms of available data for addressing those concerns. This work highlights the value of public participation for increasing communication and trust between the fishing and research communities in the pursuit of adaptive management of fisheries.
Description:
As climate change continues to impact New England's coastal ecosystems and their related fisheries, the need for measuring, projecting, interpreting, and applying those impacts for adaptive management is expanding. In New England, different types of formal and informal research efforts that involve collaboration between the fishing community and traditional university and government researchers continue to develop to address some of this need. To better understand the opportunities and challenges that these collaborative research efforts face, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 members of the fishing and research communities who are engaged in advancing New England climate change and fisheries science. Participants showed clear concern for the impacts of climate change on New England fisheries and about the insufficient availability of the necessary science to manage for those impacts. They also noted a number of challenges in collaborative research, including poor communication and a lack of trust among fishers, researchers, and decision makers, as well as a lack of perceived credibility for research coming out of the fishing community. We identify a number of opportunities for improving collaboration and communication among these groups, which could build upon the identified value of existing collaborations.
