At our “Climate Resilience: Lessons from Abroad” event, we heard from speakers from around the world, who have made pioneering efforts to build climate resilience into fisheries and coastal communities.
Attendees heard from:
Merrick Burden - Senior Director for Resilient Fisheries & Lead Senior Economist, Environmental Defence Fund
Dr Sarah Harper - Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Victoria & Nature United
Dr Kathy Mills - Research Scientist, Gulf of Maine Research Institute
Dr Alistair Hobday - Research Director & Senior Principal Research Scientist, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
Ruben Pinochet - Undersecretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture of Chile
A full recording of the online event can be found here:
Following the presentations, Parliamentarians and attendees put their questions to the panel. Written summaries of all questions and answers are provided below. Please note that these answers reflect the views of the panelists, rather than the APPG Secretariat or its Members.
For questions there was not time to answer during the event, speakers have provided written answers, which are incorporated into the accounts below.
Small-scale fisheries
How can we make sure that the under-10s fleet, and small-scale fisheries are adequately represented within the wider policy sphere?
Merrick Burden said that the consequences of climate change will be felt more strongly by smaller-scale fishers who are less able to follow fish stocks as they move. We must therefore consider whether there are ways to minimise the impacts that these fishers face. Climate resilience must begin with cooperation across industry sectors, and between industry and science, however, it’s difficult to foster cooperation when large inequity exists. In order to take the forward-looking actions that climate change requires, we need to ensure that everyone feels heard and that policies are fair and equitable.
Dr Sarah Harper said that over recent decades, on the Pacific coast of Canada, there has been a consolidation of licenses, and therefore an increased concentration of power in the hands of a few individuals. As a result, there are strong efforts to emulate the management style seen on Canada’s Atlantic coast, which has more of an operator-type licensing system, and therefore avoids some issues regarding concentration of wealth. Climate change is amplifying these pre-existing issues, and makes it even more important that we ensure that small-scale fishers are able to stay in the industry.
Dr Kathy Mills noted that the parallels between small-scale fisheries in the UK and in Maine may not be directly comparable, given the high economic value of the Maine lobster fishery to the state, and thus its influence with decision-makers. Lack of representation of small-scale fisheries is, however, a prevalent issue worldwide and something we must be attentive to. As we look forward, we need to create fishery systems which, in addition to being responsive to climate change, can achieve other important goals including making participation in decision-making more equitable.
Flexibility in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)
Are MPAs an appropriate tool when considering adaptation to climate change, or are they too inflexible and small-scale? Should we instead focus on the direct management of human activities across the whole marine environment?
Merrick Burden said that the answer depends on context. For example, Cuba has a very reef-dominated system and so MPAs are fixed in a static area, in order to protect specific physical aspects of the ecosystem. In the North Atlantic, ecosystems are more dynamic, and so MPAs should be considered differently. We should first deploy sound fisheries governance and management across the scale of the system, and then consider the appropriate tools within the system. MPAs matter little if we are failing to manage the oceans at a larger scale.
Dr Sarah Harper said that we should once again consider equity and the voices of fishermen. Some MPA network processes off the Pacific coast of Canada have created conflict as fishermen have not been included in decision-making. There have, however, been some highly successful examples, in which different sectors have been included in marine spatial planning processes from an early stage.
Pre-emptive management plans
Modelling predicts poleward shifts for many species. Could we put management measures in place for them, ahead of their arrival?
Dr Kathy Mills said that MPAs may be utilised in a manner which adapts with climate change. Their design depends on the objectives of the protected area, which may have been implemented to conserve an individual species or several species, or which may aim to achieve wider goals such as protecting biodiversity. In order to adapt to climate change, MPAs may need to carry out spatial or temporal closures, for example if spawning starts to occur earlier or later in the year. Such adjustments may be required in order for these tools to continue functioning at the level of effectiveness that has been achieved in the past.
Merrick Burden said that we must consider whether we are managing moving or expanding stocks at the appropriate scale. MPAs may or may not be the right tool depending on the species or conditions at hand, and rather than considering them as a first point of approach, it may be preferable to move the existing management system in response to shifting stocks. An example of this is the management of Alaska’s cod stock, which moved northward as a result of melting sea ice. When surveys revealed that the stock had shifted, the existing management plan was extended further north and a new stock assessment was carried out. This demonstrates that it’s possible to move management systems with stocks, which may reduce the need to consider specific tools such as MPAs.
Ruben Pinochet said that we must keep fish populations at adequate levels of abundance, and incorporate as much information as possible into our risk management strategies. In Chile, many species are predicted to move southwards, and some communities will lose those resources. Chile has therefore designed management plans which incorporate global quotas and individual catch quotas to prevent this happening. With landings declining, he says that the future of food for the world is in aquaculture. On a smaller scale, we must be prepared to diversify businesses’ portfolios and products. We must also create development plans and provide training for fishing communities that lack infrastructure, resources and technology. In addition, countries must cooperate, discuss their models of management, and help countries who lack economic resources.
Scalability of case studies
We know that climate change is happening globally. How can specific case studies of resilience be made relevant on the global scale?
Ruben Pinochet said that countries should collaborate to create multinational development programs, for example, a global fund for the environment. In addition, we should speak with fishers and stakeholders to understand their needs, and use this money to fund better technology, allowing them to diversify their activities.
Dr Kathy Mills said that while climate change is a global process, its impacts are felt at the local scale. Her work on ecological modelling has incorporated community-level impact evaluation. While the adaptations themselves are community specific, the information behind them, for example, how climate drivers are altering ecosystems and species availability, is produced in a scalable manner. It is possible to take large projections and then “slice out” locally relevant portions of the oceans to examine change in specific regions. At a more holistic level, the Science for Nature And People Partnership (SNAPP) working group is investigating case studies of climate resilience strategies around the world to understand how they are operationalised and play out in different fisheries. It’s hoped that as more insights from these case studies are gathered, they will enable other fisheries to prepare and more quickly pursue the responses that will be most beneficial.
Extreme weather and sea level rise
What measures are there to support adaptation to other impacts such as extreme weather events or sea level rise?
Dr Sarah Hardy said that from a Canadian perspective, the Aquatic Climate Change Adaptation Services Program (ACCASP) has several programs, one of which is the Canadian Extreme Water Level Adaptation Tool (CAN-EWLAT). This provides sea-level rise projections for Canada’s coastline and advice on how much higher to build coastal infrastructure to accommodate sea-level rise projections. CAN-EWLAT is available here.