Final Report: Understanding Climate Impacts on Native and Invasive Fish for Conservation, Management, and Economic Goals in the Northern Rockies
Dates
Publication Date
2023-02-09
Citation
Timothy J Cline, Clint C Muhlfeld, Ryan P Kovach, Robert K Al-Chokhachy, David A Schmetterling, Diane Whited, and Abigail J Lynch, 2023-02-09, Final Report: Understanding Climate Impacts on Native and Invasive Fish for Conservation, Management, and Economic Goals in the Northern Rockies.
Summary
In this study, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, and the University of Montana studied how climate change affected world-renown trout fisheries across 3,100 miles rivers in Montana from 1983 to 2017. Extreme droughts reduced streamflows and increased water temperatures, causing stressful conditions for trout and numerous fishing site closures. This resulted in anglers moving to find fishing locations that were more favorable to trout during extreme drought conditions. By moving to fishing locations that were more favorable during drought, visitors kept trout fishing revenue in the state rather than choosing to travel elsewhere. This flexibility revealed surprising resiliency of these valuable [...]
Summary
In this study, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, and the University of Montana studied how climate change affected world-renown trout fisheries across 3,100 miles rivers in Montana from 1983 to 2017. Extreme droughts reduced streamflows and increased water temperatures, causing stressful conditions for trout and numerous fishing site closures. This resulted in anglers moving to find fishing locations that were more favorable to trout during extreme drought conditions. By moving to fishing locations that were more favorable during drought, visitors kept trout fishing revenue in the state rather than choosing to travel elsewhere. This flexibility revealed surprising resiliency of these valuable fisheries to ongoing climate
change. However, with 35% of the cold-water habitats anticipated to be no longer suitable for trout by 2080, the resiliency of Montana’s fishing economy could be further tested in coming decades, and an estimated $192 million per year (in 2018 dollars) in angling revenue could be lost. These findings underscore the importance of maintaining a diversity of cold-water habitats and streamflows that provide options for anglers to move to as conditions change. Such diversity could help mitigate the socioeconomic impacts of climatechange on valuable freshwater fisheries.
