Fishing fleets as ecosystem sentinels

Abstract

Marine apex predators are promising sentinels for detecting the ecological impacts of climate variability and change. Fishermen are increasingly recognized as marine apex predators, and there are extensive satellite-based geolocation data on fishing vessel activities. Despite this potential, the utility of fishermen as ecosystem sentinels remains unexamined. Using one million vessel positions from 600 U.S. vessels, we assess the effectiveness of fishermen as sentinels for the ecological impacts of Northeast Pacific marine heatwaves on tuna distribution and availability. Fishermen were skillful predictors of extreme northward shifts for albacore and bluefin tunas, and extreme inshore shifts for albacore. Fishermen signaled low albacore availability over a year in advance of a formal fisheries disaster declaration request. Notably, fishermen also indicated true negatives during marine heatwaves: periods of anomalous warming but stable tuna distribution and availability. This information could aid management of transboundary shifts during marine heatwaves of albacore from U.S. to Canadian waters and bluefin from Mexican to U.S. waters. Advanced warning of fisheries disasters could expedite the delivery of relief funds for struggling communities. The number of Earth-orbiting satellites is exponentially rising, generating a wealth of geospatial information on fishing vessels. This rich and growing resource can signal otherwise unobserved ecological impacts, aiding rapid management responses to climate extremes.