Our changing oceans: the impacts of climate change on Commonwealth fisheries

Climate change is impacting Australia’s marine ecosystems and fisheries and these impacts will intensify in coming decades. All Commonwealth fisheries contain valuable species that are sensitive to climate change, with climate likely to affect the location and quantity of many important fish. Understanding what these changes mean for fisheries production and management in Australia is crucial for maintaining healthy marine ecosystems and sustainable fisheries into the future.

Our Climate Adaptation Program is integrating information on climate impacts on fisheries into our work, to ensure that management of Commonwealth fisheries is adaptive and sustainable in a changing climate. We are gathering the most current and accurate information on climate change, looking at what it means for fisheries production and management, and incorporating this information into fisheries management processes.

On our Climate change and Commonwealth fisheries page, you will find an overview of the current and projected impacts of climate change on Australian oceans and Commonwealth Fisheries’ resources and how AFMA is responding to these impacts. This has been developed using research, including work undertaken by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) funded project, Adaptation of Commonwealth Fisheries Management to Climate Change (FRDC 2016-059).

Providing clear, accessible, and reliable information on the impacts of climate change is crucial for ensuring these impacts are understood and accounted for across all AFMA fisheries. Other items being progressed through the Climate Adaptation Program include climate and ecosystem status reports and updates, incorporating climate sensitivity and species projections into management discussions, and collecting climate research relevant to our fisheries.