2022 AMSS Panel: Ecological Forecasting to Inform Fisheries Management in a Changing North Pacific

Ecological forecasting, involving the integration of physical, biological and social sciences, is emerging as a critical tool for climate-resilient ecosystem-based fisheries management in a rapidly changing North Pacific Ocean. In the context of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (UNDOS), several national and international organizations in the North Pacific are implementing projects and programs to create infrastructure to support robust climate and ocean-related forecasts and improve collaboration between countries within the region to provide timely knowledge and advice to decision makers about the effects of climate change on ocean basin conditions and coastal-ecological systems. During this panel, we introduce the relevance of ecological forecasting, a brief overview of several UNDOS programs and projects related to ecological forecasting in the North Pacific followed by a panel discussion on the benefits and challenges of ecological forecasting and its social and ecological impacts. The aforementioned UNDOS project and program are: the joint North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC)/North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) UNDOS endorsed Project: Basin Events to Coastal Impacts (BECI): An Ocean Intelligence System for Fish and People; The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration UNDOS endorsed Program: Sustainability, Predictability and Resilience of Marine Ecosystems (SUPREME); and the joint PICES/ International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) UNDOS Program: Sustainability of Marine Ecosystems through global knowledge networks (SMARTNET).