The impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems do not stop at borders. As the ocean warms, fish distributions shift, migration and spawning timing changes, and harmful algal blooms and marine heatwaves can affect vast ocean areas at once. These climate-driven changes often cross regional and national boundaries, yet monitoring programmes, data systems, and management decisions are typically organised within them. This mismatch makes it harder to detect change early, explain what is happening, and respond effectively.
In the latest Editor's Choice paper, Canadian and US government scientists examine the challenges and opportunities for transboundary science in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. They highlight several recurring hurdles: monitoring surveys that are not well coordinated across jurisdictions, barriers to data sharing, and gaps in our ability to link changing ocean conditions to shifts in fish populations. They also note that ocean-climate projections are often unavailable at the spatial scales and resolutions most useful for informing transboundary science. In addition, scientific findings are not always communicated effectively across borders to support management decisions.
The authors also identify opportunities to overcome these challenges. These include better coordination of monitoring and data sharing across borders to detect ecosystem change earlier, greater use of shared assessment frameworks and modelling approaches where possible, and stronger, more routine communication of ecosystem information to support management needs across jurisdictions.
While the study focuses on the Northeast Pacific, its insights are globally relevant. As climate change accelerates, effective fisheries and protected species management will increasingly depend on scientific collaboration that extends across borders.
Read the full paper, Leveraging transboundary science to support Northeast Pacific fisheries and protected species management, in ICES Journal of Marine Science.
