Abstract

EDF is developing a set of climate-resilient fisheries principles in an effort to follow FAO’s fundamental principles of climate-adaptive fisheries management and best practices to help guide adaptive management strategies using various tools such as bioeconomic models and assessments of the impacts of climate change in countries and regions around the world, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean region. Part of this work includes conducting a Climate Vulnerability Assessment (CVA) to provide a clearer picture of regional climate risks, and the relative vulnerability of important fisheries species to climate change. The CVA approach is adapted for data-limited contexts, using variables of exposure (physical system change), and species-level sensitivity attributes. The outputs of the CVA include rankings of the relative vulnerability of species and their potential for future distribution shifts. The knowledge gained through the CVA process can promote the readiness of fisheries to respond to climate challenges and opportunities, and guide management policies that will work best for a changing ocean. During this session we will present initial findings from a CVA for important pan-Caribbean species and potential next steps. We will also provide an outline of our objectives for an upcoming CVA that we plan to conduct on specific recreational fisheries in the Caribbean. We look forward to gathering feedback from the GCFI community at that time.

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