Assessing the impact of climate change on fish
According to a recently released report, due to climate change, fish will move elsewhere from their habitat and migration route.
A recent study assesses the impact of climate change on trans-boundary fish stocks (herds or populations). This study has been done in the context of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs).
Concerns related to relocation of fisheries:
- This will affect fishing capacity, fish production, dependent livelihoods and economies.
- Sustainable Development Goal 14 – Life beneath the aquifer could be affected.
- This will pose a challenge to the effectiveness of the existing governance and fisheries management framework.
- This will lead to loss of livelihood of the communities.
Other climate change impacts on fisheries:
Impact on the diversity and distribution of fish; lack of dissolved oxygen in water; Decline in fish production etc.
Necessary measures:
- The climate change agenda requires coordination at the national level with the SDGs.
- Enabling national legal and policy-making frameworks for climate change adaptation is critical.
- Resilience must be built through collective action with cooperation and coordination of climate policies and actions.
- International fisheries agreements should be reconsidered.
Shared Stores:
- The concept of common reserves was developed following ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and claims of EEZs by coastal states.
- According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), common reserves can be classified into four non-exclusive categories: – Trans-boundary stocks, which cross neighboring EEZs
- Straddling stocks, which, in addition to neighboring EEZs, also move into adjacent open seas (i.e., areas outside national jurisdiction);
- Highly migratory stocks, which migrate across vast ocean areas, including both the open ocean and EEZs; and discrete reserves, which are found only in the open oceans.
Source – The Hindu