Fisheries

© FAO/13488/I. De Borhegyi

Fisheries and aquaculture have an important role for food security and income generation: employing several hundred millions as fishers and fish farmers and workers in associated activities in the fishery and aquaculture sector. Aquatic foods provide 20% or more of average per capita animal protein intake for more than 2.8 billion people, the majority of whom live in developing countries. Climate change impacts, such as warming of oceans, rivers and lakes and changes in precipitation, water salinity and ocean acidity as well as the increases in extreme weather events, will increase the uncertainties in the supply of fish from capture fisheries and aquaculture. The availability of food will vary, positively and negatively, resulting from changes in habitats, stocks and species distribution in inland, coastal and marine ecosystems. More frequent long term fluctuations in marine environments, such as those induced by El Niño events and increases in extreme weather events will impact stability of supply. Climate change-induced increased risks of species invasions and spreading of vector-borne diseases may threaten food quality. However, new opportunities and positive impacts (e.g. from changes in species and new markets) will also be part of future changes.

Activities

FAO’s activities aim to increase the adaptive capacity of fisheries and aquaculture-dependent communities and to decrease the sector’s carbon foot print through the promotion of improved management practices. Main areas of activities include:

• collecting and disseminating data and information on climate change impacts on fisheries, aquaculture and depending livelihoods;
• developing and disseminating guidelines to promote ecosystem approaches to fisheries and aquaculture, integrated coastal management, and adaptive management under uncertainty;
• providing technical guidance on appropriate fisheries and aquaculture technologies (e.g. resistant species) and integrated agriculture (e.g. pisciculture);
• advocating the importance of the sector to livelihoods and food security;
• assisting in the development of national and regional climate change and food security strategies, priorities, and policies; and
• assisting in supporting cross-sectoral coordination (technical, social, political, legal, and institutional). 

Publications

The fisheries and aquaculture sector in national adaptation programmes of action: importance, vulnerabilities and priorities 10 June 2011 The main purpose of this review is to support least-developed countries (LDC), development partners and donors in planning and implementing climate change adaptation actions for the fisheries and aquaculture sector. In particular, it is aimed at the LDCs eligible for support from the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) (operated by the Global Environment Facility [GEF]), the GEF and its Agencies and the United Nations FAO. 2008. Report of the FAO EXPERT WORKSHOP ON CLIMATE CHANGE IMPLICATIONS FOR FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE. FAO Fisheries Report No. 870 [more]

FAO. 2009. Climate change implications for fisheries and aquaculture 13 January 2010 subject to a range of climate-related variability, fromextreme weather events, floods and droughts, throughchanges in aquatic ecosystem structure and productivity,to changing patterns and abundance of fish stocks.Resource users and managers face continued challengesin responding to this variability. Human-induced climatechange, which is likely to increase the frequency andmagnitude of variability as well as potentially causingmajor shifts in ocean system productivity and surfacefreshwater availability, is going to make adaptation moredifficult and costlier. An overview of the current scientific knowledge available on climate change implications for fisheries and aquaculture is provided through three technical papers that were presented and discussed during the Expert Workshop on Climate Change Implications for Fisheries and Aquaculture (Rome, 7–9 April 2008). A summary of the workshop outcomes as well as key messages on impacts of climate change on aquatic ecosystems and on fisheries- and aquaculture-based livelihoods are provided in the introduction of this Technical Paper. [#print("more")]

#title($pageItem, $entry) #content($pageItem, $entry)

#title($pageItem, $entry) #content($pageItem, $entry)