News

Climate change impacts such as rising temperatures and changes in ocean salinity, acidity and oxygen levels are expected to result in decreased catches, as previous research from UBC's Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries has found. In this study, the authors examined the financial impact of these projected losses for all fishing countries in 2050, compared to 2000.

Climate change is projected to redistribute fisheries resources, resulting in tropical regions suffering decreases in seafood production. While sustainably managing marine ecosystems contributes to building climate resilience, these solutions require transformation of ocean governance. Recent studies and international initiatives suggest that conserving high seas biodiversity and fish stocks will have ecological and economic benefits; however, implications for seafood security under climate change have not been examined. Here, we apply global-scale mechanistic species distribution models to 30 major straddling fish stocks to show that transforming high seas fisheries governance could increase resilience to climate change impacts. By closing the high seas to fishing or cooperatively managing its fisheries, we project that catches in exclusive economic zones (EEZs) would likely increase by around 10% by 2050 relative to 2000 under climate change (representative concentration pathway 4.5 and 8.5), compensating for the expected losses (around −6%) from ‘business-as-usual’. Specifically, high seas closure increases the resilience of fish stocks, as indicated by a mean species abundance index, by 30% in EEZs. We suggest that improving high seas fisheries governance would increase the resilience of coastal countries to climate change.

Closing the high seas to fishing could increase fish catches in coastal waters by 10 per cent, helping people, especially the most vulnerable, cope with the expected losses of fish due to climate change, new UBC research finds.

OceanCanada Conference in Vancouver May 23 ­- 27​

The second OceanCanada Partnership conference was held in Vancouver from May 24-27 on the beautiful grounds of the University of British Columbia. The conference brought together more than 60 researchers, students and post- doctoral fellows, advisory board members, community and institutional partners to take stock of our activities and work towards an integrated research agenda. Through a series of panels and group discussions, round tables and workshops, the conference delegates identified the emerging threats, challenges, and opportunities facing Canada’s oceans and coastal communities, and began the difficult task of synthesizing research priorities.

By Rachael Bale

PUBLISHED August 29, 2016

Major disputes in the South China Sea are putting critical habitat—and the food supply of millions—at risk.

PUERTO PRINCESA, PhilippinesYears ago Christopher Tubo caught a 660-pound blue marlin in the South China Sea. The fishing was good there, he says. Tuna fishermen would come home from a trip with dozens of the high-value fish as well as a good haul of other species. “Here there’s none of that,” he says, looking toward the Sulu Sea, the Philippine sea where he’s been fishing for the past four years. His two boats, traditional Filipino outriggers called bancas, float in the shallow water nearby, new coats of white paint drying in the sun. Tubo is sitting on a wooden bench in front of his home, which perches on stilts above the bay. One of his four kids wraps an arm around his leg. Worn T-shirts and shorts flutter on clotheslines behind them.

The effects of climate change on marine ecosystems are accelerating. Identifying and protecting areas of the ocean where conditions are most stable may provide another tool for adaptation to climate change. To date, research on potential marine climate refugia has focused on tropical systems, particularly coral reefs. We examined a northeast Pacific temperate region – Canada’s Pacific – to identify areas where physical conditions are stable or changing slowly. We analyzed the rate and consistency of change for climatic variables where recent historical data were available for the whole region, which included sea surface temperature, sea surface height, and chlorophyll a. We found that some regions have been relatively stable with respect to these variables. In discussions with experts in the oceanography of this region, we identified general characteristics that may limit exposure to climate change. We used climate models for sea surface temperature and sea surface height to assess projected future changes. Climate projections indicate that large or moderate changes will occur throughout virtually the entire area and that small changes will occur in only limited portions of the coast. Combining past and future areas of stability in all three examined variables to identify potential climate refugia indicates that only 0.27% of the study region may be insulated from current and projected future change. A greater proportion of the study region (11%) was stable in two of the three variables. Some of these areas overlap with oceanographic features that are thought to limit climate change exposure. This approach allowed for an assessment of potential climate refugia that could also have applications in other regions and systems, but revealed that there are unlikely to be many areas unaffected by climate change.

The second day of the Sea Around Us West Africa capacity-building workshop saw Dr. Rashid Sumaila give an engaging lecture on the economics of fisheries. The workshop is being coordinated by Dr. Dyhia Belhabib and is funded through the generous support of the MAVA Foundation.

By Clive Schofield, Rashid Sumaila, and William Cheung

Contrary to the view that the South China Sea disputes are driven by a regional hunger for seabed energy resources, the real and immediate prizes at stake are the region’s fisheries and marine environments that support them.

During the month of August 2016, OCP Director Rashid Sumaila is lecturing in Natal, Brazil at an IMBER ClimEco5 Summer course, of which he is a co-convener.

On October 23-25, 2015, the “American Eel Symposium: Future Directions for Science, Law, and Policy” was hosted by the Ocean & Coastal Law Journal (OCLJ) and the Center for Oceans & Coastal Law at the University of Maine School of Law, as well as the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI). Organizing partners and financial sponsors were the Sargasso Sea Commission, the Marine & Environmental Law Institute (MELAW) at Dalhousie University, the Ocean Tracking Network (OTN), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.