A new World Bank study, authored with contributions by Rashid Sumaila and William Cheung, predicts that the global fisheries sector is likely to lose an estimated $US 9.64 billion in revenues in the year 2050 due to climate change. A draft version of the full report, available here, explains that under one possible climate change and fisheries management scenario, developed countries could expect to lose US$ 2.64 billion per year while the effect on developing countries could be as high as US$ 7 billion.
Photo by Jason Dunn.
The World Bank report, which covers many sectors of the economy, predicts that the cost of adapting to climate change for all sectors is predicted to be between US$ 75 and 100 billion globally. The fact that the effect for the fisheries sector represents nearly 10% of the world total underscores the importance of continued work focusing on fisheries within the global framework. One such project examining the role of fisheries in the world economy is the Global Ocean Economics Research Project.
More than forty reports in diverse media sources such as Bloomberg, BBC, and Reuters Africa in the three days since publication of the report suggest that interest in this issue is and will continue to be quite high.