FAO report predicts "an ocean of change" for fishers and fish farmers [Print...]
Marine capture fisheries already facing multiple challenges due to overfishing, habitat loss and weak management are poorly positioned to cope with new problems stemming from climate change, a new FAO study suggests.
Small island developing states—which depend on fisheries and aquaculture for at least 50 percent of their animal protein intake—are in a particularly vulnerable position.
Inland fisheries—90 percent of which are found in Africa and Asia—are also at risk, FAO's study found, threatening the food supply and livelihoods of some of the world's poorest populations. Warming in Africa and central Asia is expected to be above the global mean, and predictions suggest that by 2100 significant negative impacts will be felt across 25 percent of Africa's inland aquatic ecosystems.
And fish farming stands to be affected as well. Nearly 65 percent of aquaculture is inland and concentrated mostly in the tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, often in the delta areas of major rivers at the mid- to upper levels of tidal ranges. Sea level rise over the next decades will increase upstream salinity, affecting fish farms.
FAO report predicts "an ocean of change" for fishers and fish farmers [
