Fisheries

In the 2000 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, scientists from each continent and the island nations projected potential effects on national fish stocks as a result of the physical, chemical, and biological changes anticipated with a warming climate. Most predicted changes in population dynamics, poleward migration of some species to cooler waters, loss of some species, and adaption of some species to live at their physiological limits. Such changes place a stress not just on individual species but on the habitat and community structure in which they are a component. Man, as a top carnivore, must necessarily adjust to such changes in their fisheries by searching farther for traditional catch or adapting locally to a new mix of catch that may have a different economic value. Infrastructure may have to be adapted as well, requiring different gear, different processing, and even relocation of coastal structures such as wharves and fish processing houses to accommodate rising sea levels. Refrigeration and energy requirements to maintain high quality may be of greater emphasis and expense. Management of such a commercial effort may necessarily have to change also, with governments having to reconsider the basis on which they form new policies and shifting the foundation away from data based on historic catches.
Summary of IPCC Fisheries Chapter
<![if !supportLists]>·<![endif]>Freshwater fisheries and aquaculture at mid to higher latitudes should benefit
<![if !supportLists]>·<![endif]>Saltwater fisheries should be about the same
<![if !supportLists]>·<![endif]>Fishery areas and species mix will shift
<![if !supportLists]>·<![endif]>Changes in abundance more likely near ecosystem boundaries
<![if !supportLists]>·<![endif]>National fisheries will suffer if fishers cannot move within and across national borders (Subsistence/small scale fishermen suffer most)
<![if !supportLists]>·<![endif]>Climate change impacts add to overfishing, lost wetlands and nurseries, pollution, UV-B, and natural variation
<![if !supportLists]>·<![endif]>Inherent instability in world fisheries will be exacerbated by a changing climate
<![if !supportLists]>·<![endif]>Globally, economic and food supply impacts should be small.In some countries, they could be large
<![if !supportLists]>·<![endif]>Overfishing is more important than climate change today; the relationship should reverse in 50-100 years (as overfishing is controlled)