A fish of many scales: Managing threatened and endangered fish species in the West Coast Region

The California Current Ecosystem produces abundant ecosystem goods and services including fisheries, recreation, tourism, energy production, climate regulation, pollution control, and transportation. This highly productive ecosystem is fueled by cyclic upwellings of cold, nutrient-rich water. Although occasional extinction of species is natural, extinctions are currently occurring at a rate that is unprecedented in human history. Many State and Federal work with the Pacific Fisheries Management Council, and western states and tribes, to bring more ecosystem-based science into fisheries management policies and decisions for the recovery of threatened and endangered species. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is a mechanism to help guide conservation efforts to manage and protect ESA listed fish species. This talk examines what part the strong scientific provisions of the ESA have played in rebuilding fisheries, new scientific innovations to address remaining challenges, and whether any additional research could further strengthen fisheries management success in the West Coast Region.

Speaker: Dr. Melanie Harrison Okoru, NOAA