Climate Change: Climate, Ecosystems, and Fisheries

by NOAA Fisheries 7 Dec 2024 13:35 UTC

Climate, Ecosystems, and Fisheries

The NOAA Climate, Ecosystems, and Fisheries Initiative (CEFI) is an effort to provide decision-makers with the information they need to prepare for and adapt to changing oceans and climate.

Climate change is impacting the nation's valuable marine and Great Lakes ecosystems—and the many people, businesses and economies that depend on them. This Initiative will establish a nation-wide decision support system (System) to provide resource managers, fishing communities, ocean industries and other decision makers with information, tools, and advice to reduce impacts and increase resilience to rapidly changing ocean conditions.

Learn more about our regional Climate, Ecosystems, and Fisheries Initiative activities.

Actionable Information for Climate-Ready Decision Making

Rapidly warming oceans, rising seas, increasing acidification, and extreme events (such as marine heatwaves) are transforming the structure and function of marine ecosystems. For example, warming waters have already led to shifts in the distribution and abundance of important fish stocks and other species in many regions. This affects fisheries, fisheries management, fishing communities, aquaculture and protected species.

To address these impacts, decision-makers need:

• Reliable forecasts of future ocean conditions
• Information on what's at risk
• Information on best strategies to reduce impacts and increase resilience

The CEFI System will provide government, business, and community decision-makers with actionable information for reducing risks and adapting to changing ocean conditions.

A $40 Million Investment Under the Inflation Reduction Act

Inflation Reduction Act funding is amplifying NOAA's ongoing efforts to advance a climate ready nation, including resilient marine resources, businesses, and coastal communities. NOAA is investing $40 million in IRA funds to build the CEFI System in all six U.S. marine regions and the Great Lakes. Across NOAA, we are leveraging this funding to enhance our science enterprise and accelerate the collection, production, and delivery of information for climate-informed decision-making. Working with many partners, this effort will accelerate the production of:

• Ocean forecasts
• Risk assessments
• Strategies for climate-ready fisheries management, protected species conservation, protected area management, aquaculture development, energy siting and other ocean uses

The $40 million in funding will support development and implementation of three major components of the system:

• Regional Ocean Outlooks: Produce robust forecasts and projections of future conditions in U.S. ocean regions and the Great Lakes conditions for use in assessing risks and identifying resilience and adaptation strategies
• Data Portal: Provide easy access to ocean outlooks and other relevant data sets for developing climate-informed strategies and actions
• Regional Decision Support Teams: Increase delivery of future ecosystem forecasts, risk assessments, and best strategies to promote resilience and adaptation

The funding will build on a variety of NOAA investments including pilot projects in four U.S. regions—the Northeast, West Coast, Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska. These pilot projects are providing important building blocks for the CEFI System nationwide. It is also building on and contributing to other IRA funded efforts such as Data Modernization, Essential Data Acquisition and others. The CEFI System is an essential part of the U.S. Ocean Climate Action Plan and NOAA’s Strategic Plan for a Climate Ready Nation.

What is the CEFI Decision Support System?

The CEFI Decision Support System will provide decision-makers with early warnings, longer term projections, and actionable information to reduce risks and increase resilience of our valuable marine life and resource-dependent communities in a changing climate. The System is composed of three central components that work together to support climate-ready decision making:

Hindcasts, Forecasts, and Projections ($14.3 million)

NOAA Research is building on existing modeling systems to deliver robust near-term forecasts and longer term projections of conditions in all U.S. ocean and Great Lakes regions. This nationwide modeling system will provide the essential information for early warnings, socio-ecological projections, risk assessments, and identifying best strategies for fishery and protected species management, coastal communities, wind energy development, and aquaculture.

Data Portal and Information Hub ($1.7 million)

NOAA Research will develop a public data management system to manage, store, and provide easy access to the information produced by the CEFI ocean modeling component. This data portal will increase public access to forecasts and projections of expected future ocean and Great Lakes conditions. The information hub will provide access to additional relevant data and information, including web-based systems for analyzing and visualizing the data.

Climate-related Information, Tools and Guidance ($24 million)

NOAA Fisheries and NOAA’s Ocean Service will establish regional decision support teams to assess risks, evaluate options, and produce climate-related information. This information is critical for effective fisheries management, conservation of protected species and habitats, industry planning, and community adaptation. The teams will provide early warnings and projections of future ecosystem conditions (e.g., future species distributions and abundance), risk assessments, and other actionable information.

We will continuously validate our products and improve operations and model performance through targeted research and observations on changing ocean conditions and how to respond. This effort builds on NOAA's expertise and strong partnerships with academia and industry.