Coastal communities are some of the most at-risk populations with respect to climate change impacts. It is therefore important to determine the vulnerability of such communities to co-develop viable adaptation options. Global efforts to address this issue include international scientific projects, such as Global Learning for Local Solutions (GULLS), which focuses on five fast warming regions of the southern hemisphere and aims to provide an understanding of the local scale processes influencing community vulnerability that can then be up-scaled to regional, country and global levels. This paper describes the development of a new social and ecological vulnerability framework which integrates exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity with the social livelihoods and food security approaches. It also measures community flexibility to understand better the adaptive capacity of different levels of community organization. The translation of the conceptual framework to an implementable method is described and its application in a number of "hotspot" countries, where ocean waters are warming faster than the rest of the world, is presented. Opportunities for cross-cultural comparisons to uncover similarities and differences in vulnerability and adaptation patterns among the study's coastal communities, which can provide accelerated learning mechanisms to other coastal regions, are highlighted. The social and ecological framework and the associated survey approach allow for future integration of local-level vulnerability data with ecological and oceanographic models.

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Understanding the social vulnerabilities and community strategies to adapt to environmental changes are crucial for the development of actions to enhance both community conservation and survival. With the aim to identify the drivers of vulnerability to climate change among different coastal communities a comprehensive multiscale vulnerability framework was here adopted. Eight selected fishing communities representative of the South Brazil Bight (SBB) area were surveyed at the household level. A total of 151 fishers were interviewed. Quantitative indicators were calculated at the community-level, and their drivers identified, allowing for comparisons of the overall vulnerability score. Findings revealed that remoteness and the lack of climate changerelated institutional support increase vulnerability among fishing communities in the region. On the other hand, community organization, leadership, research partnerships, community-based co-management, and livelihood diversification reduce vulnerability. Our analysis focused on social vulnerability to climate change in regional fishing communities and provides a better understanding of these effects in coastal zones, the factors explaining vulnerability and some perspectives on resilient and adaptable systems. Learning from comparisons at the ecosystem level may be applied to coastal regions elsewhere.

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ResumoCom o objetivo de caracterizar e comparar os diferentes aspectos quantitativos e qualitativos da pesca artesanal, foram analisados os desembarques pesqueiros da comunidade de pescadores artesanais da Barra do Rio, em Tijucas-SC, de setembro de 2010 a julho de 2011. Os desembarques pesqueiros foram acompanhados por 3 dias consecutivos a cada 2 meses, totalizando 109 desembarques de 20 diferentes pescadores. Foram obtidos dados relativos à biomassa total de cada espécie da ictiofauna capturada, somando um conjunto de 1.908,4 kg de pescado pertencentes a 26 etnogêneros diferentes. A variação da abundância e da composição de peixes pelas estações é discutida. O bagre-branco (Genidens barbus) foi a espécie de maior captura, somando 53% do peso total de pescado obtido. A situação de fragilidade da pesca artesanal no local de estudo é salientada por uma taxa de captura baixa, corroborando a hipótese de um contínuo impacto nos recursos pesqueiros intensificado pela existência de conflitos socioambientais. Palavras-chave:Conhecimento ecológico local; Conservação; Ecologia humana; Sobrepesca AbstractLanding of fishes from artisan fishing in Barra do Rio, Tijucas -Santa Catarina, Brazil. Aiming to characterize and compare the different quantitative and qualitative aspects of artisan fishing, one analyzed the fish landings of the community of artisan fishermen from Barra do Rio, in Tijucas, Santa Catarina, Brazil, from September 2010 to July 2011. The fish landings were monitored for 3 consecutive days every 2 months, totaling 109 arrivals of 20 different fishermen. One obtained data on the total biomass of each captured ichthyofauna species, resulting in a total of 1,908.4 kg of fish caught belonging to 26 different genera. One discusses the abundance variation and the composition of fishes according to the seasons. The white sea catfish (Genidens barbus) was the most frequently caught species, reaching 53% of the total weight of caught fish. The fragile situation of artisan fishing at the study site is stressed by a low capture rate, corroborating the hypothesis of a continuous impact on the fishing resources intensified by the existence of socio-environmental conflicts.