Resources

NOAA Fisheries along with stakeholders, fishery management councils, fisheries organizations, and tribes are developing Regional Action Plans (RAPs) to prepare for and respond to climate impacts on marine and coastal resources.

The Global Marine Hotspots Network was created because the oceans are not warming evenly and those areas that are warming the fastest – ocean warming ‘hotspots’ – can be considered as the world’s natural laboratories to provide the knowledge and tools to enable us to adapt wisely, efficiently, and effectively to meet the challenges of a warming environment.

The project focuses on enhancing the management of multiple important highly migratory pelagic fish species in the Gulf of Mexico and surrounding waters, with particular focus on Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) and other highly migratory tunas and billfishes in the Gulf of Mexico area for spawning and larvae, and the north Atlantic Ocean including the Gulf of Mexico for adult species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and state and tribal wildlife agencies, created a National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy to coordinate climate change responses in both the public and private sector.

Climate change presents an uncertain future with potentially high costs for Missoula County in western Montana. The area's economy and high quality of life that draw and keep people in the region could be in jeopardy due to changes in average temperature, stream flows, and precipitation.

The Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI) was created to support the efforts of multiple stakeholders charged with identifying vulnerabilities to climate change and developing adaptation strategies. WICCI released an impacts and adaptation strategies assessment in 2011 as a first step toward developing a statewide climate change adaptation strategy.

This project aims to understand how abrupt temperature changes, as well as the long-term warming trend, impact marine ecosystems and fisheries. Fisheries provide a two-way connection between changing ocean environments and local economies. As the distribution and abundance of species change, where, when, and how many fish are caught will change.