Skip to content

American Fisheries Society Family of Websites:

Fisheries.org

American Fisheries Society
Family of Websites

Journals

Read our five journals and Fisheries magazine

Gray Literature Database

Find thousands of unpublished agency reports and other information

Annual Meeting

Join us in Honolulu in 2024

Divisions, Chapters, Sections

Find an AFS Unit near you or in your area of specialty

Climate Change and Fisheries

Learn how to communicate the effects of climate change on fisheries

Hutton Junior Fisheries Biology Program

Summer internships for high school students

Fisheries Community

Coming soon!

Center for Fisheries Technology and Collaboration

Find fisheries science products and services

Center for Technology and Collaboration

Quick answers to common questions

Other Resources
  • Standard Methods for Sampling North American Freshwater Fish Website

  • Rotenone Stewardship Program Information Site

  • Fishionary: A blog about fish words! 
Latest News
Give to Fisheries on Giving Tuesday New Journal Design Fisheries in Transition
Donate
Login
Logout
  • Who We Are
  • MEMBERSHIP
  • POLICY
  • NEWS
  • EVENTS
  • JOBS
  • PUBLICATIONS
  • Professional Development
  • Engagement

Who We Are

Governance

Learn how AFS is structured

Divisions, Sections, Chapters

Find a community in your local
area or in your expertise

Committees

Get engaged and volunteer

Awards & Recognition

Nominate your heroes

Diversity

Learn more about our DEIJA efforts

AFS Celebrates 150+ Years

Explore our history

AFS Fisheries Partnerships

Meet our global partners

Meet the Staff

Dedicated to serving our members

Contact Us

Quick answers to common questions

Support AFS

Discover how you can support critical AFS programs

What Are Fisheries?

Explore fisheries professions

Membership

Learn about membership benefits and member types

Member Directory

Find your colleagues

Types of Membership

For all stages of your career                   

Give the Gift
of Membership

Invest in an aspiring fisheries
professional’s future

Who Are Our Members

From students to 50-year Golden Members

My Account

Log in to access member benefits or renew

Join/Renew

It’s Quick and Easy

Organizational Membership

Become a Strategic Partner!

POLICY

Recovering America’s
Wildlife Act

Critical funding for state conservation programs

Climate Change

Communicate the impacts
of climate change on fisheries

Magnuson-Stevens Act

Ensuring sustainability of marine fisheries

Waters of the US

News about Clean Water Act
jurisdiction

Water Quality

Healthy fisheries
require healthy waters                    

Pebble Mine

Protecting Bristol Bay salmon fisheries

National Fish
Habitat Partnership

Addressing fish habitat regionally

Infrastructure

Funding impacts on fish habitat

Aquaculture

Providing food security for the future

Future of the Nation’s
Aquatic Resources

Priorities for US fisheries policies

Recent Policy Statements

Official policy statements of AFS

Recent Policy Letters

Comments on policy,
legislation, and regulations

Advocacy Guidelines

For Units and members

Science Guidelines

Practicing science appropriately

Briefings

Congressional briefings with our partners

Resolutions

Member-approved resolutions
on policy

News

Announcements

Official AFS news

Annual Meeting

News from the meeting

Members in the News

Awards and interviews

Policy News

Round-up of all policy news

Newsletter

Bi-weekly newsletter for members and partners

Press Releases

News media releases

Events

Annual Meeting

Honolulu 2024

Future Annual Meetings

Where we are heading

Past Annual Meetings

Where we’ve been

World Fisheries Congress 2024

Seattle, Washington

Other Past Events

Past special events

Fisheries Events Calendar

Events around the world

Add Your Event Listing

Submit your calendar item

Jobs

Career Help from AFS

Compilation of job listing boards

Other Career Tips

Career info for members

Find a Job

Listings from all over North America

Post a Job

Submit your job opening

Publications

AFS Journals Program

More than 150 years of excellence

AFS Books Program

Publish with AFS

Submit Journal Article

Reach the right audience for your research

Fisheries Magazine

Monthly membership magazine

Writing Tools

Guides for authors and other resources

Bookstore

Shop more than 180 titles

Journal Online Access

Log in to access journal articles

Gray Literature Database

Thousands of unpublished agency reports and research

Professional Development

Continuing Education

Gain skills and enhance your career

Professional Certification

Official recognition of your expertise

Hutton Junior Fisheries
Biology Program

Summer high school
internship program

Leadership Opportunities

Hone your leadership skills, volunteer today!

Webinars

Check out upcoming sessions or browse our library

More Online Resources

Practical resources for fisheries professionals

Engagement

Support AFS

Discover how you can support critical AFS programs

Strategic Partners

See how your organization can partner with AFS

Shop AFS

Check out the latest AFS merch here

AFS Calls on New Administration to Take Urgent Steps to Protect Fisheries from Climate Change

  • January 26, 2021
  • Policy Letters, Policy News
  • Home
  • AFS Calls on New Administration to Take Urgent Steps to Protect Fisheries from Climate Change

January 26, 2021

The Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Biden:

We write today to urge your continued leadership and commitment to significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. We applaud your plan to restore U.S. leadership on this issue at the global level, the commitment to driving federal legislative solutions to address greenhouse gas reductions, and your efforts to appoint climate-focused personnel across federal government agencies. We would like to make you aware of (1) the global consensus of the aquatic science societies on the effects of climate change on fisheries and other aquatic resources, (2) the urgency of reducing carbon emissions, and (3) steps that can be taken to help mitigate the effects of climate change on fisheries in the interim.

Statement of Global Aquatic Science Societies
Founded in 1870, the American Fisheries Society (AFS) is the world’s oldest and largest fisheries science society. The mission of AFS is to improve the conservation and sustainability of fishery resources and aquatic ecosystems by advancing fisheries and aquatic science and promoting the development of fisheries professionals. With five journals, a monthly magazine, in-house book publishing with over 200 titles, and the world’s largest fisheries science conferences, AFS is the leading source of fisheries science and management information in North America and around the world. We support and promote the use of best-available science in policy-making.

Last fall, the American Fisheries Society (AFS) and 111 other science societies representing 80,000 scientists across the world called for urgent action to reduce emissions to avoid catastrophic impacts to commercial, recreational, and subsistence fisheries, human health, and global economies. Attached please find the statement that details the irreversible impacts to freshwater and marine ecosystems, fish, and fisheries from climate change that are projected to occur without swift and resolute action to curtail greenhouse gas emissions. We must act now to safeguard our drinking water, food supplies, and human health and well-being.

Urgency of Carbon Emission Reductions
Scientists are already observing significant changes to freshwater and marine species as a result of climate change. Today, forty percent of all freshwater fish species in North America are imperiled as a result of pollution, habitat loss, water withdrawals, and invasive species. Highly valued fisheries will be further stressed by climate change as it accelerates and intensifies water pollution, species range reductions, species extinctions, and facilitates invasive species introduction at the detriment of native species. Climate change is warming rivers, lakes, and streams and altering precipitation patterns throughout America, reducing habitat availability for fish, particularly for coldwater species such as trout which provide valuable recreational fisheries across much of the country.

Climate change is also altering marine and coastal ecosystems with significant implications for wild capture fisheries and marine economies. Projected increases in ocean temperature are expected to reduce the maximum catch potential in most areas in the U.S. Many harvested stocks are already and will continue to shift from one area to another, or even across international boundaries with implications for seafood supply, ports, and associated businesses. Loss of habitat from sea level rise will lead to declines in the vast majority of commercially and recreationally harvested marine finfish and shellfish that are dependent on estuaries and coastal systems for some stage of their life cycle. Increased carbon dioxide absorption is changing ocean chemistry, rendering some waters too acidic for marine organisms with calcium-based shells, such as oysters and clams, and threatening the base of the marine food web. In the U.S., commercial and recreational fishing support more than 1.74 million jobs and results in more than $244 billion in sales per year. The economic and environmental value of the ecosystem services provided by our nation’s aquatic resources is also of great importance and must be safeguarded.

Mitigation and Research to Help Protect Aquatic Resources
As part of any climate solution, we urge you to protect the integrity of our healthy aquatic ecosystems and work to restore degraded systems in order to maintain their crucial storage of carbon as part of halting and eventually reversing the effects of climate change. Land and water-based conservation solutions are critical to capture carbon and to make our rivers, lakes and streams, forests, grasslands, wetlands, and coastal systems more resilient to the impacts of climate change. Additional investments should be made in already existing conservation programs and activities with established funding delivery systems, partner and volunteer networks, and demonstrated track records for implementation and effectiveness. In other cases, new programs and funding streams will need to be developed in order to capture the full extent and utility of our natural systems to sequester carbon, build climate resiliency, and adapt to climate change.

To the extent possible, we must mitigate the impacts of climate change on fish and fisheries and plan for adaptation required to ensure the long-term health of our freshwater, coastal, and marine ecosystems and the many economies that depend upon them. We must also address the regulatory changes over the last four years that put the U.S. on the wrong course to deal with the very real and significant impacts to our fish and aquatic resources from climate change.

Over the last year, world-renowned scientific experts within AFS have been evaluating the most promising opportunities and solutions to provide resiliency for fish and aquatic ecosystems in the face of climate change. We look forward to sharing this information with you as it becomes available. AFS Policy Director Drue Winters ([email protected]) and I will be requesting meetings with your climate change and natural resources leaders over the coming months to share these solutions and develop innovative new approaches.

Thank you again for your commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting and restoring our nation’s aquatic resources. We look forward to working together on this critically important issue.

Sincerely,

Douglas J. Austen, Ph.D.
Executive Director

  • Recent News

    • American Lobster and Jonah Crab Populations inside and outside the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, USA November 20, 2023
    • Stray Compositions of Hatchery-origin Chinook Salmon and Steelhead in Natural Spawning Populations of the Upper Columbia Watershed November 20, 2023
    • Give to Fisheries on Giving Tuesday November 20, 2023
    • Turning Class Field Trips into Long-Term Research: A Great Idea with a Few Pitfalls November 18, 2023
    • A Historical Record of Sawfish in the Southern Gulf of Mexico: Evidence of Diversity Loss Using Old Photos November 18, 2023
  • About

    The American Fisheries Society is 501c Non-Profit Society

     

    Donate Now

    Quick Links

    • ABOUT
    • POLICY
    • EVENTS
    • PUBLICATIONS
    • MEMBERSHIP
    • NEWS
    • JOBS
    • ABOUT
    • POLICY
    • EVENTS
    • PUBLICATIONS
    • MEMBERSHIP
    • NEWS
    • JOBS

    Contact

    • 425 Barlow Place
      Bethesda, MD 20814
    • (301) 897-8616
    Facebook-f Twitter Instagram Linkedin-in Vimeo-v
    Copyright © 2023 American Fisheries Society | Privacy Policy