The climate crisis is hurting the New England fishing industry, claims a new report published Monday, with a decline of 16% in fishing jobs in the northeastern U.S. region from 1996 to 2017 and more instability ahead.

University of Delaware researcher Kimberly Oremus’ paper, “Climate variability reduces employment in New England fisheries,” was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“This is an important signal to incorporate into the fisheries management process,” Oremus told Science X. “We need to figure out what climate is doing to fisheries in order to cope with it.”

Oresmus found that the fishing industry is in trouble due to variations in ocean temperature. Of particular concern is the Gulf of Maine, an area of the ocean warming faster than nearly any other in the world.

“New England waters are among the fastest-warming in the world,” said Oremus said. “Warmer-than-average sea-surface temperatures have been shown to impact the productivity of lobsters, sea scallops, groundfish, and other fisheries important to the region, especially when they are most vulnerable, from spawning through their first year of life.”

As The New Food Economy explained, the New England fishing industry has been under threat for decades due to overfishing and climate change.