Climate Change Impacts on Florida’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Sectors and Options for Adaptation

Abstract

Florida supports diverse marine and freshwater fisheries and a significant aquaculture industry with a combined economic impact of approximately 15 billion US$. We begin by describing the characteristics of the different fisheries and aquaculture sectors. This is followed by a description of the relevant climate change and confounding drivers. We then present an integrated social-ecological systems framework for analyzing climate change impacts and apply this framework to the different fisheries and aquaculture sectors. We highlight how the characteristics of each sector gives rise to distinct expected climate change impacts and potential adaptation measures. We conclude with general considerations for monitoring and adaptation.