At Strategic Earth, we recently wrapped up a project supporting The Nature Conservancy in their efforts to advance the Pacific Fisheries Management Council Initiative 4.  This effort focused on designing a comprehensive facilitation plan for a two-day in-person workshop that invited scientists, managers, and stakeholders to discuss how to incorporate climate and ecosystem information into the harvest-setting and fisheries management processes of Councils across the United States.

Recently, our team reflected on the strategies that we believe contributed to the success of the workshop.  

• Multiple collaborative planning and design sessions with a core Project Team to identify diverse strategies to facilitate information-sharing, creative brainstorming, problem-solving, and relationship-building during the workshop. 
• Small group meetings with speakers and panelists in advance of the workshop to support relationship-building and identify key messaging to share with participants. 
• Throughout the workshop, breakout room discussions that focused on each key management technique gave participants a chance to delve deeper into the information and discuss how to address specific fisheries and Council issues. 
• Intentional social time, with a visit to Hopscotch, an interactive art exhibit, following the first day of the workshop. This creative networking event allowed folks to step outside their everyday roles and get to know each other on a personal level, which translated into more productive and collaborative conversations the following day.  

This Workshop provided a valuable space for participants  to explore the value of risk tables and other tools to improve the resiliency of fisheries to  a changing climate. Our team helped to cultivate an environment for participants to learn from each other, ask questions, brainstorm pathways for a better future. We believe these conversations set the stage for deeper discussions around ensuring West Coast fishery management practices are adaptable and resilient to climate change. Strategic Earth’s role in providing project management and facilitation design was instrumental in driving these outcomes and ensuring the project’s overall success. 

Blog post written by Scarlett Schroeder