Social-ecological Vulnerability of Fishing Communities on the US West Coast to Climate Change

Changes in fisheries resource availability due to climate change are already impacting the food security, culture, and livelihoods of coastal communities. In this study, Lenfest grantees developed a framework to determine how communities in Washington, Oregon, and California are imperiled by climate-driven impacts to the fisheries on which they rely. Researchers found that:

• Species of greatest ecological risk in the California Current Ecosystem include Pacific hake, smelts, salmon, Pacific herring, spiny lobster, sablefish, sharks, albacore, bluefin tuna, and red sea urchins.
• Fishing communities that primarily rely on one or more resources from at-risk fisheries had the greatest community exposure to climate change impacts and were therefore at higher risk.
• Adaptive capacity of fishing communities was greatly influenced by socioeconomic factors, but other social themes that contributed to adaptive capacity varied by region.
• Integrating community risk and adaptive capacity reveals that communities from each state are highly vulnerable, but certain communities in Washington and California are the most vulnerable.

Recognizing that climate vulnerability varies among communities highlights the need for a diversity of solutions to reduce their exposure and sensitivity. Management strategies that help build and strengthen adaptive capacity in vulnerable communities can ameliorate disparities in the future.

Read the full paper.

Reference

Koehn, L.E., Nelson, L.K., Samhouri, J.F., Norman, K., Jacox, M., Cullen, A., Fiechter, J., Pozo Buil, M., Levin, P.S. (2022) Social-ecological vulnerability of fishing communities to climate change: a U.S. West Coast case study. PLOS One. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272120