Risk assessment on climate change impacts over small-scale fisheries in Galicia.
Supervisors: Elena Ojea, Juan Bueno-Pardo (CIM-Univ Vigo)
Small-scale fisheries in coastal environments are responsible for 90% of employment in capture fisheries and provide around 40% of the global value of marine ecosystem services to dependent communities. However, this fishing sector is at risk due to climate change by means of direct impacts (for instance changes in sea surface temperature) and indirect impacts (decline in species abundance and changes in biogenic habitats). These impacts lead to the modification of ecosystem services thereby placing dependent communities at risk and endangering their well-being. Indicator-based tools such as climate risk assessments can be used to investigate climate impacts on social-ecological systems. The framework provided by the IPCC to conduct climate risk assessments combines the hazard, exposure, and vulnerability dimensions to estimate the degree of climate risk on social-ecological systems. This research draws on recent developments in climate risk assessments to present a framework for evaluating small-scale fisheries climate risk at a local scale. The aim is to understand who, how, and where climate risk impacts the Galician small scale fishing communities and their ability to adapt to these impacts. Galician coastline (NW Spain) houses one of Europe’s most important artisanal fishing regions, with different fishing activities and a polarized gender distribution where men predominate in on-boat fishing, and women are primarily involved in shellfishing activities. The research analysed fishers across different fishing geographic communities considering two fishing permits: shellfishing (permit 1) and on-boat fishing (permit 3). Results from the analysis were ranked based on their hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and risk scores. Findings from this research reveal that risk levels are similar between the two permits but for different reasons, being, however, slightly higher for permit 3 (on-boat fishing). Shellfishers had higher exposure to climate impacts, mainly attributed to a less diverse catch portfolio. However, this fishing group had a lower vulnerability score, mostly due to strong bonding communication practices, involvement in decision-making, and awareness of system changes due to better management practices. Identifying key differences across the risk components as applied in this research is essential to provide a precise and detailed understanding of the drivers of climate risk in Galician small-scale fisheries and beyond in order to assist policymakers in developing intervention strategies that improve resilience while identifying and prioritizing adaptation needs in artisanal fisheries.

Keywords: climate risk; marine resources; adaptation; small-scale fisheries; gender; social-ecological systems; Galicia.