CPO, the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), and the National Ocean Services’ (NOS) Office for Coastal Management are partnering to sponsor, plan, and lead a series of workshops in 7-8 regions across the country from March through May 2020, to build on a decade of research in support of water utility managers. The workshops will bring together small and medium-sized water utility managers from municipalities around the United States to improve understanding of the water utilities’ climate and weather needs and expand the use of NOAA resources for decision making, including the Water Resources Dashboard. Project leaders met with regional leaders from CPO's RISA teams and NCEI Regional Climate Services programs on October 3, 2019 to kick-off this Fiscal Year (FY) 20 project. The project builds upon a decade of work originating from CPO’s Sectoral Applications Research Program (SARP) and NCEI. A summary report and examination of NOAA tools/resources will conclude at the end of FY20. The project team hopes that future work with water utilities will be coordinated by a Community of Practice, started in July 2019 by SARP, designed to reduce overuse of water utility decision makers and foster cross-NOAA dialog. NOS funds under the NOAA Water Initiative (NWI)/Service Delivery and Decision Support team are supporting this project as well as funding from the Water Research Foundation, who is also co-planning the workshops. The project team is announcing this work to better coordinate engagement with water utilities across NOAA as part of the NWI.
For more information, please contact CPO’s Nancy Beller-Simms (nancy.beller-simms@noaa.gov) and NCEI’s Ellen Mecray (ellen.l.mecray@noaa.gov) and Tami Houston (Tamara.Houston@noaa.gov).
MISSION: The Climate and Fisheries Adaptation Program (CAFA) supports targeted research to promote sustainable management, adaptation and resilience of the nation’s valuable fish stocks and fisheries-dependent communities in a changing climate. By bringing together NOAA scientists with the academic community, other federal agency scientists, non-governmental organizations and key fisheries stakeholders, CAFA addresses priority needs for information and tools identified in the 2015 NOAA Fisheries Climate Science Strategy, Fisheries Regional Action Plans, U.S. National Climate Assessment, and other sources.
ISSUE: Healthy and productive fisheries are a significant component of the U.S. economy. Commercial and recreational marine fisheries generate over $200 billion in economic activity and support more than 1.8 million jobs annually. (FEUS 2016) Reliant and sustainable fisheries also support working waterfronts and coastal communities, provide opportunities for commerce, are tied to rich cultures, and help meet the growing demand for seafood across the U.S. and the world.
Climate variability and change are having increasing impacts on fish stocks, fisheries, and marine ecosystems in the U.S., and the impacts are expected to significantly increase with continued climate change. The changing climate and ocean conditions (e.g. warming oceans, extreme events, changing currents and stratification, coastal precipitation, coastal inundation, etc.) directly and indirectly affect marine ecosystems including the abundance, distribution, and productivity of fish stocks that support economically important fisheries. Sustainable fisheries management requires an improved understanding of how climate, fishing, and other stressors interact to affect fish stocks (including their habitats and prey), fisheries and fishing‐dependent communities.
PROGRAM HISTORY: The Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) Climate Program Office, and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Office of Science and Technology launched a partnership in 2014 to advance understanding of climate‐related impacts on fish or other species that support economically important fisheries and fishing communities. The partnership originated through the former Coastal and Ocean Climate Applications (COCA) Program and in 2021 was renamed the Climate and Fisheries Adaptation (CAFA) Program as part of the OAR/CPO Adaptation Sciences Program.
Jennifer Dopkowski NOAA Research
Climate Program Office P: (301) 734-1261 E: jennifer.dopkowski@noaa.gov
Roger Griffis NOAA Fisheries Office of Science and Technology P: (301) 427-8134 E: roger.b.griffis@noaa.gov
Americans’ health, security and economic wellbeing are tied to climate and weather. Every day, we see communities grappling with environmental challenges due to unusual or extreme events related to climate and weather.