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\[QUESTION TO ALL:  I think our team's conclusion about climate change should come first in the writeup...To that end, the sentence labeled under "Mitigation of Climate Change" should be moved to the front of the write up.  Any comments?\]

Write-up begins below: 

"We depend on the oceans---for food, jobs, recreation and solace. Ocean currents circulate the energy and water that regulate the earth's climate and weather and thus affect many aspects of the human experience, whether we live on the nation's coasts or its heartland" (Pew).

Climate Change 

We acknowledge that the issue of global climate change is outside the scope of Mission 2011's proposed solutions.  However, this is a matter of such global importance and potential impact that to not discuss the issue at all, even briefly, would have been negligent.  Furthermore, we emphasize that slowing or stopping the progress of anthropogenic global warming is necessary.  There are many other groups currently working on this issue. For more information on this topic we suggest visiting the website of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change at <http://www.ipcc.ch>.

The Effects of Global Warming 

 Figure 1. Projected surface temperature changes by 2099. ("Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis," 2001)

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    It is also likely that climate change will have effects on the human aspects of many fisheries. Sea level rise may threaten many coastal areas. Thermal expansion of seawater is expected to cause a rise of 0.09 to 0.37 m over the next century (IPCC, 2001). This may threaten coastal cities, and infrastructure of the fishing industry in some areas. It is also predicted that storms such as monsoons and hurricane my increase in number and intensity as a result of global warming (IPCC, 2001).  Flooding and storm surges could also result in damages to fishing infrastructure in locations prone to these disasters. Terrestrial effects of global warming could effect agriculture in certain areas by the changes in timing and intensity of droughts and flooding, as well as the effect of increased carbon dioxide on the growth rates of crops and weeds. There are also likely to be effects on agriculture by sustained changes in temperature and precipitation, such as the desertification of the southwestern United States (IPCC, 2001). A decrease in agricultural yield could increase the demand for fish.

Recommendations: 

One possible method of reacting to a specific negative effect of climate change - decreasing natural phytoplankton levels and debasing the ocean food chain - is "ocean fertilization" with finely powerdered. This allows high levels of phytoplankton growth in areas deficient in this nutrient  (Jones & Young, 1997).  There are significant technical problems related to this approach.  Also, the large-scale effectiveness of iron fertilization is extremely speculative (Chisholm, Falkowsi, & Cullen, 2002).  Hence, we do not advise this method until significantly more research has been conducted.

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Once trends have been determined, the plan for fishery conservation would then be modified in order to counteract whatever effects were being caused by the climate change. For instance, assuming our best predictions to be true, ecosystems would likely be able to support a smaller population of fish than they do currently. As soon as this realization comes about, restrictions must be changed to fit the reality of the situation. These changes could be made to a number of different restrictions such as technological restrictions, taxes, or closed areas. However, we propose that quotas would be most beneficial to have as direct an effect as possible on the fish populations, and thus should be used as the primary form of restriction. Quotas would allow for the most accurate control over the number of fish we are taking out of the environment, and allow the restrictions to be changed more easily when a new trend in climate change is found. The most important aspect of the plan with respect to climate change is that it has to modifiable, so that we can be constantly improving our approach as we improve our understanding of climate changes effects. If we are to this approach is most likely valid for other aspects of this problem as well. Even this approach, however, requires a great improvement in our understanding of fish population dynamics in order to be carried out .

Examples 

Here are some predictions for possible future effects of climate change on certain areas:

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