Adapting to Climate Variability in the Gulf of California, Mexico

Climate change is expected to adversely affect many small-scale fisheries in Mexico’s Gulf of California. Given that small-scale fishing represents a major source of income in most rural communities in this region, resilience and adaptation of this sector is vital to sustaining fishing livelihoods and food security. This talk will focus on the existing capacity of individual fishers and households to adapt to climate variability. Knowledge of how fishers adapt can shed light on their vulnerability to changing conditions associated with future climate change. While natural scientists in the region have some understanding about how climate variability affects fish populations and marine ecosystem dynamics more broadly, there is little understanding of how fishers and regulators perceive and respond to climate variability. Drawing from over 200 household surveys and interviews in the state of Baja California Sur, Mexico, I will discuss key social, institutional, and economic factors that currently affect the ability of fishermen to perceive and adapt to climate variability. The main strategies at the household level used to adapt to variation are livelihood and fisheries diversification. This talk will focus particularly on the role of local and national fisheries institutions in facilitating or presenting barriers to these adaptation strategies, and conclude with suggestions for how this coupled human-environment perspective on social resilience can help inform future policy in the gulf region and elsewhere.