Ecosystem Status Report of the California Current for 2019: A Summary of Ecosystem Indicators Compiled by the California Current Integrated Ecosystem Assessment Team (CCIEA)

How changes in the ecosystem affect the abundance, distribution, and condition of marine species is of great interest to commercial and recreational fishers, managers, conservation groups, and the broader public. In this year’s report, we present new analyses that describe how shifts in the abundance and distribution of important groundfish make them more available to some fishing ports and less available to others. These patterns of changing availability can be compared to other metrics we are tracking, such as the amount of bottom fishing effort occurring in an area, the fleet diversification of a region, or social and economic vulnerability of different coastal communities. These measures that connect environmental conditions and shifting target species populations to human activities and wellbeing may assist PFMC in achieving objectives under its “Climate and Communities Initiative,” being undertaken to better understand how climate variability and climate change affect fish populations, and thereby affect coastal communities that rely on fishing as part of their economic, social and cultural wellbeing. 2019 NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) NWFSC (Northwest Fisheries Science Center) Submitted https://doi.org/10.25923/p0ed-ke21 Public Domain 1863