Abstract

Fluctuations in abundance of exploited stocks and their possible relationship with oceanic climate have been described and analyzed over the past two decades. One way to explore the potential effect of climate change on the fisheries is by comparing the time series of climate indices with respect to fluctuations in catch. These indices summarize the ocean processes based on key attributes of climate. Thus, in this paper we provide evidence of the potential effects of climate change on the spiny lobster fisheries of the Caribbean. To evaluate these relationships, catch data of the 25 Caribbean countries exploiting spiny lobster were used. Polynomial regression equations of second to fifth order were applied, where the independent variable is the annual data series of each climate index, and the catch data of each country as well as from the entire Caribbean, were the dependent variables. Results are similar to those found with other fisheries, where the climate indices often show high correlation with respect to catch data. Therefore, we conclude that the use of these indices is an appropriate mean to evaluate the impacrt of climate on exploited stocks, as a first approach. The impact of climate is sometimes more intense than that caused by exploitation.