Mon, July 30, 2018 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS RESEARCH LABORATORY (AERL). "ADAPTABILITY OF PACIFIC NORTH AMERICA’S SMALL-SCALE FISHERIES TO CLIMATE CHANGE"
2202 Main Mall, AERL, Room 107
Latecomers will not be admitted
All are welcome to attend either for the 25 minute presentation (strongly recommended) or both the presentation and defence (up to another 2 hours)
Supervisory Committee:
Supervisor:
Dr. William Cheung (Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries & Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, UBC)
Committee Member:
Dr. Rashid Sumaila (Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries & Liu Institute, UBC)
Dr. Ratana Chuenpagdee (Department of Geography, Memorial University of Newfoundland)
External Examiner:
Dr. Daniel Pauly (Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries & Department of Zoology, UBC)
Abstract:
My thesis compares and contrasts the projected impacts of climate change on small- and large- scale fisheries, and seeks to understand key characteristics of their vulnerability and adaptability to climate change, using the Pacific North America region, including Alaska, Canada, USA West Coast and Mexico, as a case study. I undertake an interdisciplinary approach and use both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to examine the ecological and social-economic dimensions of vulnerabilities, impacts and adaptability of climate change on fisheries. I identify 312 exploited species that are important to small- or large- scale fisheries, and apply the Dynamic Bioclimate Envelope Model to project changes in maximum catch potentials and their distributions separately for small- and large- scale fisheries under the upper (RCP 8.5) and lower (RCP 2.6) greenhouse gas emission scenarios between year 2000 and 2080. Subsequently, I apply a vulnerability assessment framework to three case illustrations from the Pacific North America region: Alaska’s cod fishery (USA), Monterey Bay’s wetfish fishery (USA) and Sonora’s cannonball jellyfish fishery (Mexico) to understand key commonalities and differences that would enable small- and large- scale fisheries to adapt to the climate-induced impacts. The value of projection and vulnerability studies such as this, can be to anticipate and identify key stakeholders, sensitive regions and vulnerable species that are likely to be most impacted by these climate-induced changes on fisheries.