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Recent warming in the Northeast United States continental shelf ecosystem has raised several concerns about the impacts on the ecosystem and commercial fisheries. In 2014, researchers from the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution founded the Shelf Research Fleet to involve fishers in monitoring the rapidly changing ocean environment and encourage sharing of ecological knowledge. The Shelf Research Fleet is a transdisciplinary, cooperative program that trains commercial fishers to collect oceanographic information by deploying conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) instruments while commercially fishing. A total of 806 CTD profiles have been collected by the Shelf Research Fleet through December 2022. Participating vessels can view the conductivity and temperature water column profiles they collect in real-time. These profiles help inform their fishing practices and give insights when unexpected species appear in their gear or if their catch composition changes from previous years. The data collected by the Shelf Research Fleet are shared with and processed by researchers from numerous partnering institutions. The Shelf Research Fleet data have been used by researchers to better understand oceanographic phenomena including marine heatwaves, shelf-break exchange processes, warm core rings, and salinity maximum intrusions onto the continental shelf. The scope of the Shelf Research Fleet has grown over time to include efforts to more directly link oceanographic results with biological observations to better understand how changing ocean conditions are affecting commercially important species. This article describes the approach, successes, challenges, and future directions of the Shelf Research Fleet and aims to outline a framework for a cost-effective research program that engages fishers in the collection of oceanographic data, strengthening partnerships between fishing industry members and the scientific community.
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Charting a new course: ungraying the fleet and comprehensively supporting fishing livelihoods and communities
This article provides perspectives on the graying of the fleet and research efforts to understand it in Alaska fisheries, discusses recent abrupt multifaceted challenges faced by Alaskan fishermen, and compares divergent public perceptions and support programs for farmers and fishermen in the United States. Equity concerns have seen a resurgence in academic and policy realms and the graying of the fleet is now a common example of distributional inequity, yet despite in-depth research attention on the issue, few substantive programmatic modifications have been made to address it in Alaska. Aging trends in United States fisheries have typically been framed as one of changing aspirational preferences. Research suggests coastal youth do desire and highly value fishing careers, but structural and financial barriers limit opportunities for new generations. The precarity of the fishing industry was highlighted in 2023 with sudden global seafood market instability, rising interest rates and operating costs, destabilized geopolitical tensions, and hastening climate change impacts. This recent industry turmoil disproportionately impacts those on the margins and adds an additional layer of complexity to addressing graying of the fleet trends. Unlike in fisheries, there are numerous federal programs to support young farmers and the agricultural industry. This paper calls for proactive and comprehensive measures to stabilize and support fishing communities and the viability of next generation pathways amidst recent fishing industry market turmoil and longer term inequities in fishery governance.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2022190
- PAR ID:
- 10658085
- Publisher / Repository:
- Frontiers in Sustainability
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Frontiers in Sustainability
- Volume:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 2673-4524
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2024.1394083
