How do small-scale fishers adapt to environmental variability? Lessons from Baja California, Sur, Mexico

Abstract

Many fisheries stocks and the livelihoods of those who make their living from fishing are in decline, and these declines are exacerbated by uncertainties associated with increased climate variability and change. Social scientists have long documented the importance of mobility and diversification in reducing the risk and uncertainty associated with climate variability, particularly in the context of small-scale fishing. However, it is unclear how these traditional mechanisms are buffering fishers against the varied stressors they currently face, including those associated with environmental variability. This paper examines how fishers on the southern gulf coast of the Mexican state of Baja California Sur perceive and respond to stressors associated with normal environmental variability, how their ability to adapt is spatially distributed, and what threats they perceive to their continued ability to adapt. Understanding the adaptation strategies and everyday vulnerabilities that fishers face can elucidate problems associated with current fisheries management and the underlying factors that cause vulnerability, and also help decision makers, including fishers themselves, develop more effective adaptation strategies in the face of climate change.

Should I stay or should I go? Fishers’ ability and willingness to adapt to environmental change in Cambodia's Tonle Sap Lake

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“…Some fishers undertake seasonal migrations and engage in other seasonal work to counteract a loss of income from decreased fish catch (Sievanen, 2014). Traditional ecological knowledge can help fishers find new fishing areas, switch gear types and take on other jobs (Sievanen, 2014). Musinguzi et al (2016) reported fishers in Uganda were aware of climate change and its impacts on fish harvests and responded by spending more time fishing, shifting target species and using different types of fishing gears (Musinguzi et al, 2016).…”

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“…Adaptive strategies that fishers employ include changes in how, when, where, and what to fish (Wilson 2017). Strategies involving changes in fishing activities include changing harvest method (Cinner et al 2015), engaging in seasonal fishing effort (Sievanen 2014), and changing the intensity of fishing activity . Changes to the intensity of harvest may have either dampening or amplifying feedbacks on the exploitation of target species, depending on fishers' socioeconomic characteristics and livelihood options, which influence their responses to change .…”

Factors Affecting Sustainability of alternatives livelihood in coastal community of Nembrala East Nusa Tenggara: An Application of MICMAC Method

“…Disturbances from natural hazard, climate variabilities as well as economic shocks due to their isolation making them more vulnerable to fall into a poverty trap. Hence, developing alternatives livelihood is the only sensible way to cope with such vulnerability (Allison & Ellis, 2001;Sievanen, 2014). Such a situation is faced by coastal communities of Nembrala village in Rote island, East Nusa Tenggara province.…”