The importance of regional differences in vulnerability to climate change for demersal fisheries

Abstract

Regional differences in climate vulnerability are particularly important in many countries with socio-ecological gradients or geographical and environmental spatial segregation. Many studies are regularly performed at the national level, but regional assessments can provide more detailed information and important insights into intra-national vulnerabilities. They require detailed information of many socio-ecological components that are often neglected at the regional scale but are meaningful and operational at national and international levels. In this work, we developed a climate vulnerability assessment (CVA) to investigate the vulnerability of demersal fisheries based on 19 indicators covering exposure, fisheries sensitivity, species sensitivity (SS) and adaptive capacity (AC) for nine coastal regions of Spain, contrasting the Mediterranean to Atlantic areas. Exposure was consistently larger in the Mediterranean than Atlantic regions, while AC showed the opposite trend. While fisheries and SS did not display a clear Atlantic-Mediterranean pattern, they were critical for capturing regional differences that have an impact on fisheries vulnerability. Our results highlight the generally higher vulnerability of Mediterranean demersal fisheries, mainly due to the lower AC and higher exposure of Mediterranean regions, while providing key regional elements for guiding national and international actions for adaptation. This study demonstrates that the spatial scale considered in the development of CVAs must recognise the spatial heterogeneity in the socio-ecological system within its unit of analysis in order to be a relevant tool for management and policy makers.

Climate vulnerability assessment of key fishery resources in the Northern Humboldt Current System

“…In addition, the global climate models used in this CVA as a proxy for the amount of change of most exposure factors are generally consistent with downscaled physical trends; however, high uncertainty in downscaled biogeochemical trends highlights the need for more realistic climate projections of the NHCS 13 . CVAs are usually limited in this sense, as they often lack regionalised projections under climate change scenarios 77 . The lack of available phenology information was common in this study, as is the case in other species sensitivity assessments 35 , 38 .…”

Can the Life History Trait Divergence of Two Extremes of a Cold-Water Genus Distribution Offer Evidence for Their Vulnerability to Sea Warming?

“…Generally, Mediterranean demersal fisheries show higher climate vulnerability than Atlantic demersal fisheries [16]. Species vulnerability may be even higher in the northwest of this basin, considered a cul-de-sac in a sea-warming hotspot, where a species shifting its range encounters geographical barriers [20].…”

“…Fishes 2022, 7, 143 2 of 17 oppositely, populations close to the warm edge of their range suffer from temperatures higher than their optimal, resulting in population decline and edge contraction [13,14]. The local rate of these processes is partly determined by species traits [15] and regional differences [16]. For instance, deep-and cold-water species may undergo higher rates of local extinction [17].…”

Ecological sensitivity and vulnerability of fishing fleet landings to climate change across regions

“…In the last decade, different studies have applied climate vulnerability assessments to inform policy-makers at a national level 20 – 22 . However, more recent studies have underlined the need to consider the spatial heterogeneity of the socio-ecological system at a regional level in the development of climate vulnerability assessments, in countries that present geographical, environmental and socio-ecological gradients 23 , 24 . This is the case of Portugal, which follows a North–South orientation with strong latitudinal environmental gradients 25 – 27 , with differentiated oceanographic and geographic characteristics 28 that influence fisheries differently across the Portuguese coast 29 – 31 .…”