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Fishers’ Perceptions of Environmental and Climate Change in Puerto Rico: Implications for Adaptation and Sustainability

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Changing Climate, Changing Worlds

Part of the book series: Ethnobiology ((EBL))

Abstract

Marine fisheries in the Caribbean are vulnerable to a wide range of environmental and climatic change impacts. Direct and indirect effects of these impacts on fish species affect the ability of fishers to harvest them resulting in reductions in revenue and food security. Understanding factors impacting and transforming fisheries from the viewpoint of the fishers is crucial for developing adequate strategies to maximize coastal communities’ resilience and adaptation to change, particularly under future climate change scenarios. This study uses qualitative and quantitative data collected from 212 surveys with Puerto Rican fishers to explore aspects of fishers’ subjective perceptions of environmental and climate change and investigate factors influencing these perceptions. Our findings show that fishers perceive the local environment and climate to have undergone significant changes in the past couple of decades and they believe these changes have been affecting the fishery and consequentially leading them to adapt. Adaptations to these impacts, which consist mostly of seeking new fishing grounds, have led them to increase their exposure to risks, particularly among SCUBA divers fishing in deeper waters and farther away from the coast. Results also show important relationships between fishers’ perceptions of the status of fishery resources, demographics, levels of environmental awareness, and concern about climate change. These findings have significant implications for the development of policy and educational strategies aimed at increasing sustainability and well-being in fishing communities.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Refers to percent of responses as each fisher could indicate more than one option per response.

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported by the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (Award number: NA16NOS4820051).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology & Environmental Science, University of New Haven, West Haven, CT, USA

    Tarsila Seara & Karin Jakubowski

  2. Department of Marine Affairs, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USA

    Richard Pollnac

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  1. Tarsila Seara
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  2. Richard Pollnac
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  3. Karin Jakubowski
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Correspondence to Tarsila Seara .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Graduate School, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Meredith Welch-Devine

  2. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR 7533 Ladyss, Nanterre, France

    Anne Sourdril

  3. Department of Sustainable Development, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, USA

    Brian J. Burke

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Seara, T., Pollnac, R., Jakubowski, K. (2020). Fishers’ Perceptions of Environmental and Climate Change in Puerto Rico: Implications for Adaptation and Sustainability. In: Welch-Devine, M., Sourdril, A., Burke, B. (eds) Changing Climate, Changing Worlds. Ethnobiology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37312-2_2

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