Climate-driven changes in the oceans are shifting the distributions of fishery resources; however, further research is needed on how fishing fleets will be affected by these climate changes. Because fish populations and fishing fleets may respond to climate change in divergent ways, accurately describing and understanding variations in species and fleet distributions is a key requirement for managers and policy makers to develop management strategies that will support climate-readiness and resilience in U.S. fisheries. As an awardee of the 2021 Sea Grant and NOAA Fisheries Joint Fellowship Program, Nima Farchadi will be employing a novel joint fishery-species distribution model (JFSDMs) approach to improve our understanding of how fish and fishers will respond to marine heatwaves. Nima will focus on predicting the spatiotemporal distribution and relative overlap of albacore tuna (Thunnus alalunga) and the northwest Pacific Albacore troll fishery. The goal of this research is to evaluate the predictive skill of JFSDMs under anomalous environmental conditions and support climate resilient and climate-ready fisheries management.
Congratulations, Nima!!