Perceived Vulnerability and Climate Change Impacts on Small-Scale Fisheries in Davao Gulf, Philippines

Abstract

The small-scale fisheries play a critical role in food security and income of coastal fishing communities. However, climate variability and its impacts are affecting fishers, their communities, and fishing grounds. This study aimed to determine the perceived impacts of climate change and vulnerability of small-scale fisheries in selected fishing communities around the Davao Gulf. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to gather data on the perceptions of fishers (N = 220) on the impacts of climate change on their livelihood and communities. Seven focus groups corroborated the collected data and conclusions reached (N = 15). Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to reduce the sources of vulnerability and number of impacts of climate change. Regression was used to determine factors influencing the catch per unit effort (CPUE). The PCA results showed that for the vulnerability, the sources, coral bleaching, inadequate food, lack of credit access, changes in weather pattern and hotter temperature contributed highly. For the climate change impacts, the factors, less seasonality, unclear reproductive patterns, diseases in the catch, invasive species, decrease in catch and venturing farther to fish offshore were substantially influential. Further analysis showed that disease and invasive species, decrease in fish catch, fishing farther offshore, and monthly income affected the CPUE of the fisheries. Recommendations for climate change vulnerability reduction based on the conclusions reached in this study include more financial credit access, apprehension of illegal fishers, increased capacity building and technical skills for coastal communities, supplemental livelihoods, and information dissemination on climate change adaptation strategies.

Determinants of fish catch and post-harvest fish spoilage in small-scale marine fisheries in the Bagamoyo district, Tanzania

“…However, the majority of the fishers have been fishing for less than 5 years, showing that the village is dominated by less experienced fishers. In other parts of the world, the SSF is dominated by highly experienced fishers ( Marín-Monroy, 2016 ; Macusi et al., 2021 ). Fishing experience is an important human capital in the SSF industry ( Sesabo and Tol, 2007 ).…”

Environmental and Socioeconomic Impacts of Shrimp Farming in the Philippines: A Critical Analysis Using PRISMA

“…As the aquaculture industry grapples with the impacts of climate change, and particularly with heavy rains, cold months, and extreme events, which inevitably impact the growth, survival, and performance of the cultured species, which lowers their productivity, and with the possibility of higher disease transmission because of water quality deterioration, this has economic costs. The government should adopt further adaptation measures in order to prevent the catastrophic impacts of climate change and the variabilities within the aquaculture sector [86]. This may include: the climate proofing of postharvest facilities; increasing the number of aquaculture hatcheries to avoid insufficient supplies; the enforcement of regulations in terms of the number of cages, pens, cultured ponds; the regulation of the stocking density and proper land-use planning; the observance of aquaculture practices; and the proper coordination between local governments and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) for licensing and for the registration of fish cages, ponds, and operators, as well as with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for regular water quality monitoring [32,33,87].…”

“…This has generated a suite of environmental and economic problems for the aquaculture sector in the Philippines, as well as socioeconomic benefits. These mainly include: damage to the mangrove forest and the loss of biodiversity; increased soil salinity, with a serious loss of soil fertility; algal blooms; damage to coastlines because of water quality deterioration, which affects their traditional uses for swimming and recreation, as well as for tourism purposes; the displacement of subsistence fishers and gleaners, as well as mangrove wood collectors; problems of land ownership and the illegal occupation of protected landscapes and seascapes; the loss of ecosystem services because of the effluent impacts on the phytoplankton diversity and the fish diversity; the destruction of seagrass and the mangrove carbon sink; as well as aquatic invasions, antibiotic resistance, and disease problems [19,64,[81][82][83][84][85][86]. On the other hand, the positive impacts of shrimp aquaculture include: the local employment of workers on the small-holder farms and on largescale commercial farms; higher incomes for workers and operators, which improves their economic conditions; foreign direct investments in hatcheries, farms, and postharvest facilities, as well as in feed mills; the involvement of women in the fish farms, which provides higher incomes; value-adding activities; improvements in marketing; business diversification activities due to the profit from shrimp farms (e.g., lands, farms, and vans were acquired as a result of the profits); and better educational and economic opportunities for the children of shrimp farmers [77,81,[87][88][89].…”

Environmental and Socioeconomic Impacts of Shrimp Farming in the Philippines: A Critical Analysis Using PRISMA

“…Changes in climatic variables facilitate the increased frequency of typhoons, and disease spread, causing physical damage to the farm's pond structure, deterioration of water quality and spread of disease and infection in shrimp ponds [69]. Issues and problems have arisen such as decrease in wild-caught shrimp fry and lack of hatcheries in strategic locations to supply shrimp farmers and increasing price of feeds are major concerns [60,70]. Few studies have analyzed the economic impacts of climate change on aquaculture and fisheries dealing with the national economy.…”