CalCOFI California Current Conference 2020: Understanding unprecedented changes in marine & coastal environments of the California Current Ecosystem

Last year’s CalCOFI California Current Conference brought together over 300 diverse stakeholders from the California Current and internationally, across the Americas, to discuss the unprecedented changes in marine & coastal environments of the California Current Ecosystem. The conference provided a timely opportunity to share information on the current state and recent changes to California’s marine and coastal environment and to continue to build a community of researchers and practitioners working toward holistically understanding, mitigating, and addressing coastal and marine resource issues along the West Coast. 

The conference featured keynote speakers, such as Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet, the Honorable Mark Stone and leadership from the partner agencies, important updates on the CalCOFI program from CalCOFI Leadership, an overview of the State of the California Current, panels on Climate-Ready Fisheries & Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs). The conference also featured short discussion groups related to nearshore fisheries management & aquaculture, ocean acidification, a webenized State of the California Current Report, fisheries life histories, coordination of monitoring in the Americas, effects of marine heatwaves, ecosystem indicators using eDNA, marine spatial planning, soundscapes, and pelagic impacts of DDT. The importance of utilizing time series data to understand the effects of climate change on coastal and marine ecosystems, related to fisheries, species range shifts, and harmful algal blooms, was highlighted.