Field Site Seminar: Elliott Hazen NOAA Fisheries, Changing oceans and altered ecosystems necessitate dynamic management

Zoom webinar ID:969 1093 3469

Highly migratory species are inherently difficult to manage as they regularly move in response to ocean conditions and cross human-imposed jurisdictional boundaries. Many migratory predators species face multiple anthropogenic threats including being shipstrikes and interacting with fishing gear (bycatch). Rapidly changing ocean conditions including marine heatwaves, are making existing management approaches less effective and creating new human-wildlife conflicts. Managing these highly migratory species in a changing climate requires an understanding of how distribution and abundance varies with the ocean environment. Here I discuss how new approaches to management can conserve top predators while still allowing humans to use the ocean sustainably focusing on two recently developed tools, WhaleWatch for assessing blue whale ship-strike risk (http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/whalewatch/) and EcoCast for maximizing the catch of swordfish while minimizing bycatch of sharks, pinnipeds, and turtles. These studies provide a framework for how dynamic approaches can serve as a win-win for sustainable use of the ocean and conservation, and emphasizes dynamic ocean management approaches can serve as a climate-ready management approach.