Climate Change

Overview

Ocean warming due to climate change is causing irreversible changes to marine ecosystems and fisheries worldwide. Potential impacts from climate change include shifts in species distribution and changes to productivity and species composition, all of which could undermine fisheries conservation and management efforts and disrupt established practices throughout the value chain. Adverse effects on tropical tuna stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) present a particular risk to Small Island Developing States (SIDS), many of which are already facing significant threats from sea-level rise and declines in coastal fisheries resources.

At WCPFC19 the Commission decided to integrate climate change information into its work and the work of its subsidiary bodies.

Figure 1 illustrates the predicted potential impact on future tuna stock biomass from the five Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scenarios.  The predicted potential impacts of tuna stock biomass were initial results provided through SPC’s SEAPODYM analyses.

Timeline