A NOAA Fisheries science perspective on the conditions during and after COVID-19: challenges, observations, and some possible solutions, or why the future is upon us

Abstract

Many fisheries and marine science organizations are working to determine how to meet their missions in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak. As such, it seems prudent to exchange ideas, share knowledge, and initiate a discussion among us. As the scientific leadership team for NOAA Fisheries, we wanted to offer some perspectives. Others are also evaluating the impacts of COVID-19 but from the perspective of addressing tactical, day-to-day concerns of restarting operations for various marine and fisheries-oriented organizations. Thus, it seemed appropriate to us to explore the potential challenges posed by COVID-19 and to purposefully ascertain whether there are strategic opportunities for improving how we conduct our operations. We need to find ways to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on our mission and also to glean information from our responses while in the midst of the crisis. We offer some recommendations to that end and offer these thoughts not as having solved every problem, but to learn from each other, compare across organizations, and engage in dialogue within our discipline to advance much-needed changes.