Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. kfiorella@gmail.com
  • 2 Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
  • 3 Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2, Canada
  • 4 WorldFish, 11960 Bayan Lepas, Penang, Malaysia
Sci Adv, 2021 Apr;7(18).
PMID: 33931440 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abc7425

Abstract

Climate change will reshape ecological dynamics. Yet, how temperature increases alter the behavior and resource use of people reliant on natural resources remains underexplored. Consequent behavior shifts have the potential to mitigate or accelerate climate impacts on livelihoods and food security. Particularly within the small-scale inland fisheries that support approximately 10% of the global population, temperature changes likely affect both fish and fishers. To analyze how changing temperatures alter households' fishing behavior, we examined fishing effort and fish catch in a major inland fishery. We used longitudinal observational data from households in Cambodia, which has the highest per-capita consumption of inland fish in the world. Higher temperatures caused households to reduce their participation in fishing but had limited net effects on fish catch. Incorporating human behavioral responses to changing environmental conditions will be fundamental to determining how climate change affects rural livelihoods, food production, and food access.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.