Fisheries management in a changing climate lessons from the 2012 ocean heat wave in the Northwest Atlantic
Open accessAbstract
Climate change became real for many Americans in 2012 when a record heat wave affected much of the United States, and Superstorm Sandy pounded the Northeast. At the same time, a less visible heat wave was occurring over a large portion of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. Like the heat wave on land, the ocean heat wave affected coastal ecosystems and economies. Marine species responded to warmer temperatures by shifting their geographic distribution and seasonal cycles. Warm-water species moved northward, and some species undertook local migrations earlier in the season, both of which affected fisheries targeting those species. Extreme events are expected to become more common as climate change progresses (Tebaldi et al., 2006; Hansen et al., 2012). The 2012 Northwest Atlantic heat wave provides valuable insights into ways scientific information streams and fishery management frameworks may need to adapt to be effective as ocean temperatures warm and become more variable
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A variety of impacts have been associated with marine heatwaves, including shifts in species ranges, local extinctions and economic impacts on seafood industries through declines in important fishery species and impacts on aquaculture.
“A variety of impacts 4 have been associated with these anomalous events, including shifts in species ranges, local 5 extinctions and economic impacts on seafood industries through declines in important fishery 6 species and impacts on aquaculture.”
From A hierarchical approach to defining marine heatwaves (2016) · cites this paper as Mills et al. 2013
The “Ecological and Economic Impacts” section describes species range shifts, lobster mortality and substantial economic effects on fisheries. It does not document local extinctions or aquaculture impacts, and the economic harm it describes is not specifically attributed to declines in fishery species; lobster prices fell amid an influx of catch. No page number is available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe atmosphere, land surface and ocean all may have important driving roles in how and where prolonged heat events play out.
“From examples such as the 2003 MHW in the northern Mediterranean Sea (Garrabou et al. 2009), the 2011 Ningaloo Niño in Western Australia (Feng et al. 2013) and the 2012 MHW in the northwest Atlantic (Mills et al. 2013; Chen et al. 2014), it is clear that the atmosphere, land surface and ocean all may have important driving roles in how and where these prolonged heat events play out.”
From A hierarchical approach to defining marine heatwaves (2016) · cites this paper as Mills et al. 2013
The Northwest Atlantic temperature discussion says atmospheric blocking brought warm air into the region and contributed to the 2012 ocean heat wave; it also refers to atmosphere–ocean interactions. It does not identify the land surface as a driver of that event: Greenland melting is described as another likely consequence of the atmospheric conditions. No page number is available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe 56-day event in 2012 is the 2012 northwest Atlantic event discussed in the literature.
“This latter event is the 2012 northwest Atlantic event discussed in the literature (Mills et al. 2013; Chen et al. 2014).”
From A hierarchical approach to defining marine heatwaves (2016) · cites this paper as Mills et al. 2013
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- Authors
- Mills, K., Pershing, A., Brown, C., Chen, Y., Chiang, F.-S., Holland, D., Lehuta, S., Nye, J., Sun, J., Thomas, A., & Wahle, R.
- Affiliations
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (US)
- Gulf of Maine Research Institute (US)
- National Taiwan Ocean University (TW)
- Ifremer (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Mills, Katherine
- ORCID
- Venue
- Oceanography
- Publisher
- The Oceanography Society
- Published
- 2013
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 191-195
- ISSN
- 1042-8275 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2322130052
- Cited by
- 678
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 68 · 2024: 70 · 2023: 100 · 2022: 79 · 2021: 62 · 2020: 48 · 2019: 63 · 2018: 47 · 2017: 36 · 2016: 40 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 20.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Oceanography (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) (submittedVersion)
- DigitalCommons (California Polytechnic State University) (submittedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- Institutional Archive of Ifremer (French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea) (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- UNC Libraries
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Marine and fisheries research
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Fish Ecology and Management Studies
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Oceanographic and Atmospheric Processes
- Keywords
- climate change, fisheries management, range shifts, seasonal migration, extreme events, marine ecosystems, fisheries economics
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