be felt through changes in capture, production and marketing
costs, changes in sales prices and possible increases in risks of
damage or loss of infrastructure, fishing and aquaculture tools
and housing. Fishery-dependent communities may also face
increased vulnerability in terms of less stable livelihoods, de-
creases in availability and/or quality of fish for food, and safety
risks, for example, fishing in harsher weather conditions and
further from their landing sites.
Impacts on aquaculture could also be positive or negative, arising
from direct and indirect impacts on the natural resources they
require, primarily water, land, seed, feed and energy. As fisheries
provide significant feed and seed inputs, the impacts of climate
change on them will also, in turn, affect the productivity and
profitability of aquaculture systems, thus jeopardizing food se-
curity (Cochrane et al, 2009). Vulnerability of aquaculture-based
communities will stem from their resource dependency and also
umn. It is predicted that when oceanic waters become more strat- on their exposure to extreme weather events. Climatic changes
ified, these algae are expected to survive better than other phy- could increase physiological stress on cultured stock, which
toplankton, and therefore the frequency of harmful algal bloom would not only affect productivity but also increase vulnerability
events could increase (Moore et al., 2008). Their range is expected to diseases, in turn imposing higher risks and reducing returns
to extend to higher latitudes as sea temperatures rise due to cli- to farmers. Interactions between fisheries and aquaculture sub-
mate change. HABs have already been observed more frequently sectors could create other impacts, for example extreme weather
in northern Europe (Tester, 1994). The timing and duration of events resulting in escapes of farmed stock and contributing to
HAB events is also predicted to change as sea temperatures will potential reductions in genetic diversity of the wild stock and af-
reach their maximum earlier and for longer periods of time, with fecting marine biodiversity and ecosystems more widely.
optimal growing conditions lasting longer (Moore et al., 2008).
These combined changes will expose more people for longer time These impacts will be combined with other aspects affecting
periods and over wider geographic ranges to the toxins associated adaptive capabilities, such as the increased pressure that ever
with harmful algal blooms either as aerosols or as accumulations larger coastal populations place on resources, any political, in-
in shellfish and finfish (Moore et al., 2008). stitutional and management rigidity that negatively impacts on
communities’ adaptive strategies, deficiencies in monitoring
WHO ARE THE MOST VULNERABLE TO and early-warning systems or in emergency and risk planning,
CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON OCEANS? as well as other non-climate factors such as poverty, inequality,
As mentioned in the previous chapters, impacts on the oceans food insecurity, conflict, and disease.
from growing climate change are likely to include rising sea
levels, increasing acidity, increasing frequency and intensity of The degradation of these marine ecosystems by climate change,
extreme weather events, and decline in fisheries. The impacts of poor coastal waste management, as well as from unsustainable
these physical and biological changes on fisheries and aquacul- natural resource extraction practices including bottom trawling
ture communities will be as varied as the changes themselves (UNEP, 2008b), will impact a broad range of aspects of food
(FAO, 2008; Cochrane et al., 2009). Both negative and posi- and livelihoods security. Adaptation and mitigation to ensure
tive impacts could be foreseen, their strength depending on the improved integrated coastal and aquatic resource management
vulnerability of each community; combining potential impacts is therefore essential both for restoring carbon sink capacity, as
(sensitivity and exposure) and adaptive capacity. Impacts would well as for health, livelihoods, incomes and food security.
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