Impact of Climate Change on Fisheries and Aquaculture
Chapter One
Study Objectives.
This study seeks to examine literally the impacts of climate change on fisheries and aquaculture. Specifically, the study examines:
- The causes of climatic change on fisheries and aquaculture.
- The impact of climate change on fisheries and aquaculture.
- The way forward in mitigating and controlling climatic impact.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED AND RELEVANT LITERATURE
Aquatic Food Security and The Dynamics Of Climate Change
Food Security Defined
With a growing population and recurrent problems of hunger and malnutrition plaguing many communities in SSA, food security is of major societal and international concern (Garcia and Rosenberg, 2010). Food security is widely defined as “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life” (World Bank 1986; FAO, 1996). Such understanding of the concept of food security reflects the widely cited definition of what the terms signifies and what factors it constitutes to indicate the level of its achievement, or challenges faced thereof towards addressing the “in” in food insecurity (Webb and Rogers, 2003). Identification and analysis of the indicators and measurements of food security can be at the national, regional, household or individual levels. The national level seeks to understand aggregate status of countries for classifying specific countries for external intervention and appraisal of international efforts towards addressing the problem. Regional level analysis focuses on identifying discrepancies between and among the spatial distribution of scarcity and vulnerability for the purpose of central and regional governmental organizations, as well as aid agencies, to design policies and guidelines for targeting regions. Household food security analysis assumes the household provides the core reflections and patterns of food security status despite its potential weakness in disguising individual preferences and status. Individual level is the lowest unit of analysis that examines each individual’s idiosyncratic values and positions towards access, control and consumption of food within a household.
Food Security and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG)
The first indicator of food security used in the MDG is the prevalence of underweight children below five years of age (UCBF). The percentage of underweight children refers to the weight of children between the age of zero and 59 months with less than two standard deviations below the median weight for age of a reference population. The standard for this reference population is found in the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Globally, South Asia accounts for 46 per cent of underweight children followed by SSA at 28 per cent (UNICEF, 2006). Underweight includes both stunting (height-for-age) and wasting (weight-for-height). Obviously the main cause of underweight children is deficiency in essential and non-essential proteins and vitamins. Fish has traditionally been used as the main supplement of vitamins and animal protein in many impoverished SSA countries. As can be seen from Table 1, fish contains a rich source of nutrients, the lack of which causes serious health deficiencies mainly in children. For example, it is estimated that vitamin A deficiency kills half a million children annually in Africa (World Fish Center, 2005: 2). The second indicator is the proportion of a population below the minimum level of dietary energy consumption. Taking 2,350 Kcal as the commonly agreed calorie intake threshold, it is estimated that populations of more than 50 countries of the world fall below this standard, which accounts for food items including concentrated energy sources of fat and oil (Sacquet, 2005: 18). In 2006, populations of 30 countries had less than 2,200 Kcal access per day. High population growth, limited agricultural resource base and a history of hunger prevalence were singled out as major causes (FAO, 2006).
CHAPTER THREE
THE DYNAMICS OF CLIMATIC IMPACTS ON FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE
Overview of the Impact of Climate Change on Fisheries
Natural climatic fluctuations, particularly those at medium (decadal) scale, have always affected fisheries as well as their management performance (Garcia and Rosenberg, 2010). The atmosphere and the ocean will continue to warm over the next 50–100 years, sea level will rise due to thermal expansion of water and melting of glaciers, ocean pH will decline (become acidic) as more carbon dioxide is absorbed, and circulation patterns could change at local, regional and global scales (Bindoff et al., 2007 in Munday et al., 2008) The major aquatic habitats in SSA include the Great Rift Lakes such as Lakes Malawi and Victoria; man-made reservoirs such as Lake Kariba; large river and floodplain systems such as the Nile and Zambezi Rivers; and coastal habitats including estuaries, mangrove swamps, and deltas (Hlohowskyjl et al., 1996). The diversity of the habitats and the species they support respond differently to different impacts of climate change. Even though it is not possible to generalize the impacts of climate change on fisheries in SSA, they share something in common – climate change is very likely going to lead to fluctuations in fish stocks. Fluctuations in fish stocks will have major economic consequences for many vulnerable communities and national economies that heavily depend on fisheries (Brander, 2010). The impacts of climate change on fish stocks in SSA can be classified as physical and biological changes. Physical changes include sea surface temperature rise, sea level rise, changes in salinity and ocean acidification. Biological changes include changes in primary production, and fish stock distribution. These factors when combined together will have adverse impacts on the already strained resource.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE WAY AHEAD: INVESTMENTS TO CLIMATE-PROOF FISHERIES
INTRODUCTION
Fisheries conservation in light of climate change means (1) reducing stress on the already strained fishery resources, (2) allowing fish species to adapt and settle successfully, and (3) enhancing the adaptive capacity and resilience of fisher communities. Climate change impacts on fisheries could potentially affect the four dimensions of food security; availability of aquatic foods will vary due to changes in habitats, stocks and species distribution; stability of supply will be impacted by changes in seasonality, increased variance in ecosystem productivity and increased supply variability and risks; access to aquatic foods will be affected by changes in livelihoods and capture or farming opportunities; and utilization of aquatic products will be impacted, for example, some societies and communities will need to adjust to species not traditionally consumed (Barrange and Perry, 2010). To minimize the potential impacts of climate change on fisheries and food security and increase the resilience of many poor fisher communities in SSA, increased and sustained investments in market development, fisheries governance and provision of economic incentive mechanisms are crucial.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to reiterate that the objective of this study was to examine the impact of climate change on fisheries and aquaculture.
Summary
This study was undertaken examine the impact of climate change on fisheries and aquaculture. The study opened with chapter one where the statement of the problem was clearly defined. The study objectives and significance as well as the scope was highlighted. The study reviewed related and relevant literatures. The chapter two dealt with aquatic food security and the dynamics of climate change. The third chapter described the dynamics of climatic impacts on fisheries and aquaculture, thereby giving an overview of the impact of climate change on fisheries. The fourth chapter dealt with the way ahead: investments to climate-proof fisheries. While the fifth chapter gives the study summary and conclusion.
Conclusion and Recommendation
There are increasing empirical evidences on the impact of climate change on fisheries and aquaculture with serious implications on the livelihoods of communities and food security in Nigeria. There are also some historical data to predict and model the pattern of shift in the climate elements in the country. However, assessing the impacts of the changes on the country’s fisheries and aquaculture will still be based largely on observations, projections and experiences of other similar countries, due to lack of reliable quantitative data. It is therefore imperative to put in place the necessary structure to collect and maintain relevant data on climate change and the impact, possible responses of the fisheries and aquaculture systems and feasible adaptive and mitigation measures. We can see and feel the impact of climate change and several reports indicate that climate change will be unavoidable for the next century. Therefore, government need to adopt relevant policy measures for management of climate change and partner with the private sector to invest in adaptive and mitigation strategies to protect fish production, the livelihoods of the communities that depend on them and food security. Fisheries are a major source of food for the majority of poor and vulnerable communities in Sub-Saharan African countries. The sector also provides jobs to many men and women and is one of the most traded food commodities in the region. Fish trade supports economic growth processes in developing countries in general and SSA countries in particular, by providing an important source of cash revenue to service international debt, funding the operations of national governments, and importing food for domestic consumption, thus contributing to national food security and diversification of diets. However, climate change poses a significant threat to fisheries in the region. The potential impacts of climate change on fisheries are categorized as physical and biological changes: physical changes include water surface temperature rise, sea level rise, increasing water salinity and ocean acidification; biological changes include changes in primary production and changes in fish stock distribution. Such changes could lead to disruptions in the food chains of aquatic flora and fauna, habitat destruction, depletion in food stock and prey-predator composition, destruction of coastal fish landing, and risk to processing and marketing sites. These negative effects when combined together are going to have adverse impacts on the already strained resource, thereby reducing fish production. Depletion of fish stock and reduction in fish production could threaten the livelihoods of many vulnerable fisher communities and the food security of many countries in the region. Nonetheless, the benefits gained from the sector are often ignored and continue to lack sufficient attention by decision makers in both adaptations to climate change and food security policy formulation. This is mainly because over half of the fish produced in SSA are from small-scale or artisanal fisheries which are not accounted for in national statistics and thus their contribution to the economy and food security remains invisible. In an empirical analysis of data from 42 SSA countries, the importance of fisheries to poverty reduction is demonstrated. The data analysis indicates that hunger index is negatively correlated with total aquaculture and capture fishery production. In addition, a regression of hunger index against total fishery production, food supply per capita from fish and fishery products, and protein supply from fish and fishery products as a per cent of total protein consumed shows that all explanatory variables significantly affect hunger index in varying magnitude and direction. Fishery production level and per capita food supply from fish and fishery products affect hunger index negatively. This means that the higher the production level and per capita food supply from fish, the lower the prevalence of hunger and malnutrition. For example, a reduction in fish production by 10,000 metric tons partly or mainly due to climate change in Ghana would raise the prevalence of hunger and food insecurity from moderate to serious level. In Kenya, the same reduction in catch level could drive the country from the current serious level to alarming; according to IFPRI’s categorization of the prevalence of hunger and malnutrition global hunger index (GHI). It was also found that very high dependence on fish for animal protein is positively related to the prevalence of hunger and malnutrition. This could principally be due to the fact that the share of protein intake from fish can be extremely high (often more than 50 per cent) in the poorest countries especially where other sources of animal protein are scarce or expensive. Therefore, while dietary diversification is needed, it is evident that higher catch level and per capita food supply from fish can reduce hunger in the region.
Therefore, it is argued that fisheries should come at the forefront of the process of adaptive policy formulation, and sufficient investments should be made to boost sustainable fish production in Sub-Saharan African countries. It is also recommended that in order to minimize the potential impacts of climate change on fisheries and food security, and to increase the resilience of many poor fisher communities in SSA, increased and sustained investments are needed in: market development through investments that support sustainable artisanal fisheries businesses and market infrastructure, in order to address post-harvest and income losses; and fisheries governance to provide economic incentive mechanisms. Such investments combined together would strengthen the resilience and adaptive capacities of many poor and vulnerable communities and nations, and enhance food security.
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