How vulnerable is the European seafood production to climate warming?

Abstract

The main challenge for the European seafood industry is to ensure sustainable production volume while adapting to climate warming. Marine fisheries mainly target 41 species which account for 80% of the seafood production in Europe. The remaining 20% comes from marine and freshwater aquaculture, which harvest mainly 5 and 11 species, respectively. European seafood production volume (2004–2014) recorded by FAO was combined with indices of temperature sensitivity and biological sensitivity (BS) based on the life histories of the main exploited species. We found that the marine sectors are more vulnerable to global warming than the freshwater sector. The vulnerability to warming of a country’s production is defined by the temperature sensitivity and the BS of the main exploited seafood species, weighted by their production volume. Production vulnerability in the marine sector increases with latitude due to the temperature sensitivity of the harvested species and their high production volume. No such gradient is found in the freshwater sector because most of the production is based on two species with opposite temperature sensitivity. To ensure a sustainable European seafood production, national climate strategies and action plans should include both fisheries and aquaculture and be integrated at a regional level.