Webinar on Understanding Climate Impacts on Stock Assessments in the U.S.

When fish stocks shifted across jurisdictional boundaries—whether due to warming temperatures, range expansion, or other environmental conditions—it created significant management challenges. In the United States, the lengthy and complex policies for renegotiating stock allocation raised issues of fairness and equity among stakeholders and, in some cases, increased the risk of overfishing. This webinar featured members of a research team who conducted a retrospective analysis of two important fisheries in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic: summer flounder and black sea bass. Their findings examined ecological and socioeconomic tradeoffs under different allocation options used in the past. While the results did not offer direct management recommendations, they provided valuable context for future discussions on adaptive allocation strategies that could help managers respond more effectively to shifting fish distributions.