This session provides an opportunity to showcase how climate-informed EBFM can be implemented in practice and the actions needed to get there.
Climate change is having profound impacts on marine ecosystems and fisheries. According to the latest IPCC assessment, climate change is intensifying, and some changes are irreversible on the scale of human lifetimes. IPCC estimates that global temperatures would take 20 to 30 years to stabilize even with significant greenhouse gas reductions. Marine ecosystems and associated fisheries will therefore continue being impacted by climate change in decades to come, posing a growing risk for global food security and socioeconomic benefits.
Despite the clear need to mitigate climate-induced risks and to adapt to future climate change, accounting for climate impacts when developing fishery management plans and policies remains challenging. For instance, despite ongoing efforts the EU's Common Fisheries Policy still has a low adaptability to climate change.
The emergence of ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) has shown that it is possible to account for external drivers such as environmental conditions and/or predation when managing a fishery. Likewise, stakeholders are increasingly involved in the management process and can provide hands-on knowledge crucial in shaping policies to manage marine resources. These recent advances towards holistic fisheries management provide stepping stones towards climate-informed EBFM.
We invite contributions on topics such as:
- Case studies of accounting for climate impacts in management measures aiming towards healthy ecosystems and sustainable fisheries, showcasing policies applied 'in practice'
- Best practices and approaches for considering large-scale and long-term climate impacts when aiming to manage marine resources at regional scales
- Reconciling long-term, multi-annual management plans needed to ensure healthy ecosystems amid climate change with the short-term, tactical management used to decide annual fishing quotas
- Advances needed for climate-ready fisheries management to be widely adopted
