IMS Faculty Candidate Seminar: Janet Nye

UNC’s Institute of Marine Sciences presents a seminar by Janet Nye, Ph.D. This event is scheduled for Monday, March 18th, at 10:00 am in room 222 at the Institute of Marine Sciences. This seminar will also be broadcast live to both room 3204 on the 3rd floor of Venable/Murray Hall at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and online via Zoom (Meeting ID: 252-726-6841).

Presenter Affiliation: Stony Brook University

Title:  The future is now: Climate change and North Atlantic fisheries

Abstract: We often talk about climate change as something that will happen in the future, but in fact, the climate has already changed and marine ecosystems have responded in a variety of ways. Waters off the Northeast US coast have warmed faster than most all other regions of the global ocean and have experienced two ocean heatwaves in just the past six years. In response, fishes have moved to northern waters and some populations have declined in abundance. While there are numerous negative impacts to fisheries in this region such as cod and yellowtail flounder, other fisheries like summer flounder and black sea bass have responded favorably to warming. While warming – especially when combined with fishing – has a strong influence on the abundance and distribution of marine organisms, other factors such as ocean acidification and changes in trophic interactions are more poorly understood. Thus, the future of fisheries science and management requires a holistic understanding of how multiple stressors impact total ecosystem productivity, resilience, and stability.