Western Regional Action Plan

NOAA Fisheries and its partners have developed Regional Action Plans to guide implementation of the NOAA Fisheries Climate Science Strategy in each of its regions.

West Coast

A Changing Climate

Changing climate and ocean ecosystems are affecting the nation’s valuable marine life and the many people, businesses and communities that depend on them. Warming oceans, loss of sea ice, rising seas, extreme events, and acidification are impacting the distribution and abundance of species and the structure of marine and coastal ecosystems in many regions. These impacts are expected to increase and there is much at risk.

Expected Changes in the Western Region

Climate change is a significant threat to the oceanic fishery resources, protected species, and marine and freshwater habitats of the U.S. West Coast including the California Current Marine Ecosystem. Climate change has and will continue to alter the composition and function of marine and terrestrial ecosystems and has led to shifts in species distributions. It has also created damaging conditions that can lead to species extinction, particularly for endangered and threatened salmon. Climate variability and change have created new and anomalous conditions in the California Current Ecosystem, such as marine heat waves, increased ocean acidification, and conflicts between human uses of the ocean and protected species. These will have negative effects on the coastal communities that rely on marine and freshwater resources. NOAA Fisheries must understand, prepare for, and respond to the interacting effects of climate variability and change on the biological environment, marine life, and coastal communities.

Priority Actions

This Western Regional Action Plan identifies priority actions to implement the NOAA Fisheries Climate Science Strategy, and to advance ecosystem-based and climate-informed decision making, resilience, and adaptation in the region. Priority actions consist of both ongoing efforts and new initiatives. Ongoing efforts include informing management through Management Strategy Evaluation and understanding mechanisms and projecting future conditions using forecasting models. New initiatives include efforts to better understand and measure the recruitment and younger life stages of ocean finfish, and to gather data on the human dimensions of marine ecosystem management in the face of a changing climate.

Climate Science Strategy Objectives pyramid: Informing management, understanding mechanisms and projecting future conditions and infrastructure and tracking change

Build and Maintain Infrastructure and Track Change (Objectives 6 and 7)

Maintain CCIEA Ecosystem Status Report
Enhance strategic planning and capacity building through data coordination (collection and sharing) and standardized reporting

Understand Mechanisms and Project Future Conditions (Objectives 4 and 5)

Support and strengthen forecasting models (e.g. JSCOPE, Future Seas)
Conduct salmon climate-driven lifecycle modeling
Advance ecosystem modeling of the California Current
Develop hindcasts and predictions of species' spatial distributions/abundance under a changing climate

Inform Management (Objectives 1–3)

Develop and deliver the California Current Integrated Ecosystem Assessment Ecosystem Status Report to the Fishery Management Council, including development of a “climate change” appendix
Develop Management Strategy Evaluations for select species (sablefish, swordfish, sardine, albacore, coastal pelagic species)
Conduct Climate Vulnerability Assessments for protected and managed stocks, marine mammals, turtles, habitat
Improve the potential to use Adaptive and Dynamic Ocean Management (e.g. EcoCast, WhaleWatch)
Implement the Climate, Ecosystems, and Fisheries Initiative
Address recommendations from the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Climate and Communities Initiative and scenario planning