Global climate change and inland open water fisheries in India: Impact and adaptations

Abstract

India has crossed the fsheries production of 10 million tonnes in 2015 and presently on its way to achieve the second blue revolution. Among all the major factors impeding sustainability of fsheries, factor of climate change is the recent addition. Climate change trends along major river basins of India have revealed a warming trend (0.2–0.5 °C), declining rainfall (257–580 mm) and shifting seasonal-ity of rainfall occurrence. Rising sea levels (1.06–1.75 mm/year), receding Himalayan glaciers and frequent occurrence of extreme weather events are also a matter as per IPCC AR5. The present article discusses the contributions made by ICAR-CIFRI since 2004 on climate change vulnerability assessment framework, changes in breeding phenology of fshes, models on fsh reproduction and diversity, thermal tolerance of fshes, carbon sequestration potential of wetlands and indigenous climate smart fsheries adaptation strategies. In addition, understanding the response and adaptation capacity of fshing and fshers to the physical and biological changes have also been discussed in the chapter.