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Climate change hits fishing economies

A fisherman cleans fish outside his temporary house near the town of Mopeia, Mozambique, 2008. Fishing and farming communities all along the banks of the Zambezi river have had to move their families inland to avoid flooding and have lost access to farmla David Gough/IRIN
A fisherman cleans fish outside his temporary house near the town of Mopeia, Mozambique, 2008
Eight countries - four in Africa and four in Asia - have been identified as those most economically vulnerable to the effects of climate change on fisheries in the first ever detailed study of the subject.

The most badly hit countries are those where fish play a large role in diet, income and trade, and also lack the capacity to adapt to the impact of climate change such as the loss of coral reef habitats to the bleaching effect of warmer waters, and lakes parched by an increase in heat and a decrease in rainfall.

The study was conducted by a team of scientists from the WorldFish Center in Malaysia, the University of of East Anglia, Simon Fraser University, the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, the University of Bremen, and the Mekong River Commission, which examined 132 economies.

To find out more about the most vulnerable countries:
www.worldfishcenter.org

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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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