The FishSCORE2030 Approach

To date, climate considerations in fisheries management have largely focused on how climate conditions may alter fish stocks and appropriate harvest levels. The FishSCORE2030 approach encourages consideration of a broader suite of ecological, social, economic, governance, and cultural features that influence how climate impacts may affect a fishery and the ability of the fishery to adapt to change. This includes the inclusion of Indigenous and local knowledge and knowledge-holders in the development of projects and recommendations.

FishSCORE2030 supports knowledge co-production as an iterative, collaboration-building process that brings together multiple types of knowledge and ways of knowing to develop a systems-oriented understanding of the impacts of climate change on diverse marine fisheries. Through the program, we aim to support on-going and new work at local, regional, national and international scales that will identify potential solutions to climate resilience in fisheries and elevate local knowledge and experiences in decision making.

FishSCORE2030 supports collaborations that enable knowledge exchange and improve resources for climate-resilient fisheries, ensure scientific information is translated and tailored for applied needs, and advance use of climate information in real-world fishery systems. This co-development and application approach strengthens partnerships and builds capacity for forward-looking resilience planning in marine fisheries across the globe, including large-scale industrial and small-scale artisanal fisheries. 

FishSCORE2030’s co-production approach will facilitate collaboration and information exchange among partners to better understand climate change impacts in local and regional fishery systems, refine resilience strategies within specific fisheries, and advance recommendations appropriate to the fishery’s economic, social, and governance systems. The approach stresses the importance of working with existing local and regional efforts and supporting existing resilience strategies and pathways within communities. FishSCORE2030 will also engage partners in helping synthesize and elevate policy and science priorities that emerge from multiple local and regional resilience efforts.

Contributing to the UN Ocean Decade

FishSCORE2030 will advance collaboration and application experiences among diverse types of marine fisheries and fisheries constituents, including those from developing and least developed countries and marginalized or underrepresented groups, and will thereby contribute to equity of knowledge and capacity among fishery systems. Through an interdisciplinary network that incorporates and elevates local voices, FishSCORE2030 will support processes and solutions that enable fisheries communities and marine resource economies to thrive into the future.

With these efforts, FishSCORE2030 will contribute to a number of UN Sustainable Development Goals, including supporting healthy marine ecosystems and fisheries (SDG 14), poverty reduction (SDG 1), food security (SDG 2), human health and well-being (SDG 3), gender equality (SDG 5), climate action (SDG 13), and partnerships for the goals (SDG 17). 

Through transdisciplinary scientific collaborations and partnerships with fishers, resource managers, community practitioners, and policymakers across fisheries sectors and contexts, FishSCORE2030 will develop and apply information needed to support decisions, plans, and policies that will enhance the resilience of marine fisheries to climate change. These aims will be achieved through building collaborations, capacity building activities, research applications, information synthesis, and recommendations for practices and policies.

During the UN Ocean Decade of 2020–2030 and beyond, FishSCORE2030 will:

• Expand and strengthen a network of collaborators including scientists, fishery participants, policy experts, managers, and community and development practitioners through:
  • Virtual seminar series
  • Virtual and in-person workshops
  • Topic-based working groups
• Work with local and global practitioners to support benchmark resilience assessments and planning efforts
• Advance local, regional, and global understanding of climate challenges facing marine fisheries and how these may be compounded by other stressors, as well as of inherit resilience attributes and strategies for operationalizing climate resilience
• Synthesize insights from multiple assessment and planning efforts to compare resilience approaches and understand factors that influence resilience pathways
• Develop and improve frameworks, tools, resources, and recommendations to support climate resilience assessments, planning, and transformative actions
• Support the near-term adoption of actionable climate resilience practices in fisheries activities and policies.

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