POTENTIAL ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON AUSTRALIAN FISHERIES AND THE NEED FOR ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT

The effects of climate change on marine fisheries can be either mitigated by global action on greenhouse gas emission, or managed by encouraging appropriate adaptation. While fishers will autonomously adjust their activities in response to climate change, fisheries management systems may also need to be changed to facilitate adjustment. Identifying the scope of these management changes require some understanding of the impacts of climate change in the absence of any management changes. In this paper, we estimate the climate-related economic impact on Australian marine fisheries and associated sectors for the year 2030, ceteris paribus, based on expected biophysical changes to the resource and using an Input-Output model to capture impacts on the broader economy. Despite considerable uncertainties surrounding potential changes to the biological productivity of capture fisheries, the results suggest that most Australian fisheries and their related sectors could benefit from climate change. Appropriate adaptations could further enhance the benefits and reduce the losses to the fisheries investigated.