Can We Get a Pulse? Data Needs to Detect Climate Change Impacts on Fish Populations

Detecting the impact of climate change on fish populations is becoming an increasingly important task given that we have likely stepped across the threshold of a demonstrably changed climate.  Thus, we are not asking whether fish populations are changing, but how much are they changing due to climate change.  This is a difficult question, given the continuous and progressive process of climate change, and the influence of annual weather events on fish populations.  From a practical viewpoint, trying to assess the effects of climate change on a single population is fraught with statistical challenges and is viewed as a poor objective to focus on.  Instead, it is wiser to focus on changes across a larger number of populations and their aggregate response to climate change.