The effect of regional sea surface temperature rise on fisheries along the Portuguese Iberian Atlantic coast

Abstract

The environmental effects of climate change are expected to impact fisheries, and related economies, and represent a significant challenge for the development of government policy. The impact of ocean warming on fisheries yields is of particular concern. The effect of sea surface temperature (SST) on fisheries in three distinct biogeographic areas (north‐western, NW; south‐western, SW; and south, S) and different fleet sectors (trawl, seine, and multi‐gear) of the Portuguese coast was examined. The mean temperature of the catch (MTC) was applied to the official landings statistics to assess the effect of global warming on the exploited marine communities. MTC increased from 16.9, 16.7, and 17.4°C in 1989 to 17.9, 18.1, and 18.3°C in 2009, whereas the linear rate of MTC increase was 0.54, 0.49, and 0.70°C per decade in the NW, SW, and S regions, respectively. The increase of warmer species in fisheries landings is regional‐specific. The percentage increases in landings of warmer water species increased significantly from north to south: 5.1, 6.7, and 18% per decade in the NW, SW, and S, respectively. The results confirmed that ocean warming has affected the composition of fisheries landings (of warmer and colder species) in the three regions of the Portuguese coast. The results highlight the importance and urgency of considering the temperature‐induced shift in species distribution in fisheries management.

Exploring the dynamics of small pelagic fish catches in the Marmara Sea in relation to changing environmental and bio-optical parameters

“…Further, some species, such as sardine, may prefer colder waters for their reproductive and feeding dynamics (Sabatés et al, 2006), and increase in SST values could favour species associated with warmer waters. Hence, a general increase in SST can negatively affect fisheries catches by changing the catch composition (Leitão et al, 2018). The results of our study showed similar associations between NPP, SST, and the catches of the investigated fish species.…”

Habitat configuration for an obligate shallow‐water delphinid: The Indo‐Pacific humpback dolphin, Sousa chinensis, in the Beibu Gulf (Gulf of Tonkin)

“…In the northern Beibu Gulf, the massive reclamation and embankment activities in the eastern Qinzhou Bay have compromised interchange between seawater and inland discharges, decreasing regional productivity and facilitating SST increase (Wu et al, unpublished data). These changes can further impact local ecosystem regimes, including accumulating inland pollutants (Dr Bing Gong, personal communication), forming a hypoxic region on warm‐weather days (Dr Haiping Wu, unpublished data), and gradual shift in prey composition (Leitão, Maharaj, Vieira, Teodósio, & Cheung, ; Potts et al, ). HPA planning needs to consider measures mitigating ecosystem deterioration or, more proactively, restoring damaged habitat.…”

Climate change vulnerability assessment of the main marine commercial fish and invertebrates of Portugal

“… 11 for an opposite trend 12 ). These environmental changes are likely to lead to consequences for the main fisheries of Portugal, including changes in the catch composition by the introduction of subtropical species 13 , or fluctuations of landings due to environmental changes with mechanistic consequences on the recruitment of small and medium pelagics 14 – 18 also found a general decreasing trend of landings of species with affinity for temperate waters and an opposite trend for species with affinity for subtropical/tropical waters, evidencing that species might respond differently to climate change due to their ecology and biology. A big effort to understand the effect of environmental variables on marine fish landings has been paid in recent years (e.g.…”