Growth opportunities for marine fisheries and aquaculture industries in a changing climate

Climate change is impacting the oceans around Australia with significant warming of ocean temperatures, observed on both the east and west coasts (Pearce and Feng 2007; Ridgway 2007; Lough and Hobday 2011). A range of other physical changes have also been documented, including to circulation and ocean chemistry (Lough and Hobday 2011; Poloczanska et al. 2012), and are projected to continue and even intensify in the future (Hobday and Lough 2011). Such changes are in turn impacting coastal marine ecosystems by altering the distribution, growth, recruitment and catch of exploited marine species (e.g. Pecl et al. 2011; Frusher et al. 2013) and their habitats (Ling 2008; Pratchett et al. 2011). In Australia, declines in lobster recruitment (Pecl et al. 2009), increases in abundance of tropical fish in southern waters (Last et al. 2011) and changes in growth of fished species (Neuheimer et al. 2011) have been reported. As a result, marine resource-based industries such as fishing and aquaculture are expected to experience both opportunities and challenges in coming years (Hobday et al. 2008; Norman-Lopez et al. 2011; Doubleday et al. 2013). Given observed and projected climaterelated changes, seafood sectors may need to adapt practices in order to maintain or enhance production to meet the needs of future populations (Rice and Garcia 2011; Merino et al. 2012; Bell et al. 2013). Adaptation is important as seafood plays a key role in regional food and economic security, supplying about 10% of world human calorific intake (Allison et al. 2009; Brander 2010), and in Australia is an important regional industry and employer (Hobday et al. 2008; Frusher et al. 2013).