Chapter 14: Climate change impacts, vulnerabilities and adaptations: Western and Central Pacific Ocean marine fisheries

• Main Authors: Bell, JD, Allain, V, Sen Gupta, A, Johnson, JE, Hampton, J, Hobday, AJ, Lehodey, P, Lenton, A, Moore, BR, Pratchett, MS, Senina, I, Smith, N, Williams, P
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018
• Subjects: Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences; Fisheries Sciences; Fisheries Management; Pacific; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: http://www.fao.org/3/I9705EN/i9705en.pdf; http://ecite.utas.edu.au/127636

Continued CO 2 (and other greenhouse gas) emissions are very likely to affect theoutcomes of regional and national plans to maintain or improve socio-economicbenefits derived from industrial tuna fisheries and small-scale, coastal fisheries. Global warming is likely to affect food webs supporting tropical tuna species, andvery likely to cause changes in distribution and abundance of tuna by 2050 underthe RCP8.5 emissions scenario. Redistribution of tropical tuna is very likely to affect licence revenues from purseseinefishing, and shift more fishing into high seas areas. Harvest strategies for tropical tuna will very likely need to account for changes indistribution and abundance resulting from climate change. Priority adaptations to maintain the economic benefits of industrial tuna fisherieswill need to focus on interventions to maintain licence revenues, and ensuredelivery of fish to local canneries. Global warming, extreme events, and ocean acidification are very likely to damagecoral reefs and other habitats underpinning small-scale, coastal fisheries fordemersal fish and invertebrates. Changes to coral reefs and other fish habitats, and the direct effects of CO 2 emissions on fish and invertebrates, are likely to reduce harvests from small-scale,coastal fisheries by up to 20 percent by 2050, and by up to 50 percent by 2100,under the RCP8.5 emissions scenario. Climate change is very likely to increase uncertainty in replenishment of coastalfish stocks, requiring a more conservative community-based ecosystem approachto fisheries management.