Research connected to AFMA's Climate Adaptation Program has identified valuable insights into effectively communicating information about climate change impacts to the seafood industry and other fishery stakeholders.
The new CSIRO research paper reports on the development and delivery of AFMA's first set of Climate Ecosystem Status Reports, which were delivered during 2023-24 and cover 10 Commonwealth fisheries.
The reports aim to increase the awareness and understanding of relevant climate change information among fishery stakeholders and ensure it is considered in the discussion and consultation processes that underpin fishery management decisions. They provide a way to integrate a variety of diverse data into a simple overview that can be easily communicated, providing managers and fishery stakeholders with up-to-date trends for a specific region or ecosystem to inform management advice.
Based on the experience of producing and delivering the first 10 Climate and Ecosystem Status Reports, the researchers have identified six key lessons:
- Developing tailored environmental indices enhances relevance.
- Ecosystem observations are essential but remain spatially and temporally patchy.
- Fishery-independent surveys provide vital data.
- Remote climate drivers must be considered.
- Seasonal forecasts offer actionable insights for short-term planning.
- Fisher observations provide context-rich information that should be systematically incorporated.
"The lessons and general reporting structure can be applied to the development of other climate and integrated ecosystem reporting activities that are ongoing around the world," write the authors of the paper, recently published in Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries. "We contend that these reports serve as important tools for fostering climate resilience and facilitating the adaptation of the Australian seafood sector to the short and long-term challenges of rapidly changing ocean ecosystems."
Daniel Corrie, AFMA's Senior Manager of Climate Adaptation and Strategic Reform and one of the report's co-authors, said AFMA was already incorporating the insights from the Climate and Ecosystem Status Reports, now in their third year of production, into its Climate Adaptation Program.
"These reports are a practical step toward climate-informed fisheries management," Mr Corrie said. "By combining historical trends, ecosystem indicators, and seasonal forecasts, we're helping advisory groups and industry anticipate and adapt to changing ocean conditions."
Climate and Ecosystem Status Reports for 11 AFMA-managed fisheries are available on the AFMA website.
