Facing the wave of change: stakeholder perspectives on climate adaptation for Australian seafood supply chains

• Published in: Regional environmental change Vol. 15; no. 4; pp. 595 - 606
• Main Authors: Lim-Camacho, Lilly, Hobday, Alistair J., Bustamante, Rodrigo H., Farmery, Anna, Fleming, Aysha, Frusher, Stewart, Green, Bridget S., Norman-López, Ana, Pecl, Gretta T., Plagányi, Éva E., Schrobback, Peggy, Thebaud, Olivier, Thomas, Linda, van Putten, Ingrid
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.04.2015; Springer; Springer Nature B.V; Springer Verlag
• Subjects: Aquaculture; Aquaculture industry; Climate adaptation; Climate Change; Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts; Earth and Environmental Science; Economics and Finance; Environment; Environmental Sciences; Fish industry; Fisheries; Fishery industry; Food supply; Geography; Global temperature changes; Humanities and Social Sciences; International economic relations; Logistics; Nature Conservation; Oceanography; Original Article; Regional/Spatial Science; Seafood; Seafood industry; Australia; Perception analysis; Climate scenarios; Adaptation planning; Sustainability
• ISSN: 1436-3798; 1436-378X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10113-014-0670-4

Climate change is one of the most important issues confronting the sustainable supply of seafood, with projections suggesting major effects on wild and farmed fisheries worldwide. While climate change has been a consideration for Australian fisheries and aquaculture management, emphasis in both research and adaptation effort has been at the production end of supply chains—impacts further along the chain have been overlooked to date. A holistic biophysical and socio-economic system view of seafood industries, as represented by end-to-end supply chains, may lead to an additional set of options in the face of climate change, thus maximizing opportunities for improved fishery profitability, while also reducing the potential for maladaptation. In this paper, we explore Australian seafood industry stakeholder perspectives on potential options for adaptation along seafood supply chains based on future potential scenarios. Stakeholders, representing wild capture and aquaculture industries, provided a range of actions targeting different stages of the supply chain. Overall, proposed strategies were predominantly related to the production end of the supply chain, suggesting that greater attention in developing adaptation options is needed at post-production stages. However, there are chain-wide adaptation strategies that can present win–win scenarios, where commercial objectives beyond adaptation can also be addressed alongside direct or indirect impacts of climate. Likewise, certain adaptation strategies in place at one stage of the chain may have varying implications on other stages of the chain. These findings represent an important step in understanding the role of supply chains in effective adaptation of fisheries and aquaculture industries to climate change.