NOAA’s Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) approach helped NOAA scientists overcome a lack of fisheries and ecosystem data by integrating monitoring data with simulations and models. For example, when surveys were cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, scientists estimated fish abundance with limited trawl data by combining simulated survey effort reductions, seabird diet observations with new predictive models, and predicted krill species distributions based on past survey observations. Understanding the connections of living marine resources with other ecosystem components enables NOAA to be better prepared during periods of decreased observations and helps meet new challenges in managing and conserving these resources.

NOAA scientists that carry out the California Current Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) participated in the 2021 California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) Conference in preparation for the California Current Ecosystem Status report. The cooperative is a collaboration between NOAA Fisheries Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. This cooperative conducts quarterly cruises off southern and central California to collect a suite of environmental and marine ecosystem data. These data are used to study the California Current, manage its living resources, and monitor the indicators of El Nino and climate change. Scientists use these data to put together the annual California Current Ecosystem Status report. This report compiles the status and trends of key indicators of climate, oceanography, ecology, fisheries and other human activities, and human wellbeing in the California Current Ecosystem.

Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management (EBFM) is rapidly becoming the default approach in global fisheries management. The clarity of what EBFM means is sharpening each year and there is a real need to evaluate progress and assess the effectiveness and impacts. We examine a suite of over 90 indicators (including socioeconomic, governance, environmental forcing, major pressures, systems ecology, and fisheries criteria) for 9 major U.S. fishery ecosystem jurisdictions, and systematically track the progress the country has made toward advancing EBFM to an operational reality. We view this progress as synonymous with improved management of living marine resources in general, with the lessons learned in US systems directly applicable for all parts of the global ocean. Much work still remains, but significant progress has occurred.

Researchers use environmental DNA to identify the species that inhabit the coral reefs around the Big Island of Hawai'i.

A newly published study finds fewer win-win solutions for whale conservation and the California Current Dungeness crab fishery during climate extremes.

A new CCIEA paper demonstrates the benefits of using a diversified approach to evaluating ecosystem status during data-poor situations.

Recent research shows California's salmon fishery historically depended less on cold weather and experienced steadier salmon returns despite droughts.

The CCIEA program is seeking a highly motivated researcher to coordinate and lead an interdisciplinary project focused on Understanding Spatial Interactions Across Ocean-use Sectors in a Changing Climate.