A Climate for Change

(^162) The Fishing and Mariculture Industries Human Development Report - Croatia 2008

• Monitoring of fluctuations in commercial catches
  for the purpose of preparing an action plan for
  the adaptation of Croatia’s fishing sector to cli-
  mate changes,


• Establishment of a permanent monitoring sys-
  tem for fish species that are biological indicators
  of changes in the hydrographic properties of the
  sea, with the ultimate goal of understanding their
  biology and ecology. It will be necessary to anal-
  yse the links to global climate changes and their
  atmospheric and oceanographic consequences
  further, especially the increased temperature ob-
  served worldwide, which can strongly influence
  fish species,


• Promotion of adaptive fishery management in
  order to initiate a faster response to dramatic lo-
  cal changes, such as those reported in the Nere-
  tva River estuary,


• Analysis of previous studies on the impact of
  global climatic change on the fishing sector of
  southern Mediterranean countries (such as Tur-
  key and Greece) in order to prepare scenarios for
  the Adriatic Sea and to learn from their experi-
  ences and management strategies.

9.7.2. Resource availability for adaptation

and adaptation studies and the role of

institutions and decision-making authorities

Once the full impacts of climate change are under-

stood, adaptation plans can be developed and imple-

mented. Currently, Croatia’s 2006 National Climate

Change Action Plan contains the objective of main-

streaming climate change issues into all national poli-

cies. This should apply to the national strategy on the

development of the fishing industry. However, there

are no currently available resources specifically allo-

cated for adapting to climate change and performing

adaptive fishery management. The present level of

knowledge on this issue is insufficient and therefore

no management scheme can yet be developed.

At present, stakeholders have minimal knowledge

and little concern with regard to climate change and

its impact on the fishery sector. They are more occu-

pied by the existing problems of gasoline prices, the

marketing of their products, adaptation of production

to EU legislation, and financing their activities - fre-

quently a subject on TV and in the newspapers. This

makes it difficult to incorporate climate change as a

factor in their businesses. Additionally, the various

ministries dealing with this sector have not recently

called for projects dealing with climate change’s im-

pact on the industry.

Although damages have been caused by either invasive

species or by population increases of native warm wa-

ter species, this has not been recognized as an impact of

global warming among various Governmental bodies.

An insurance programme was recently developed in

Mali Ston Bay for damages inflicted by predator fish

species on shellfish installations. The insurance pay-

ment scheme is similar to other agricultural cases in

Croatia, where shellfish farmers only pay for 25% of

the insurance fee, as the rest is paid by the Ministry

of Agriculture and Fisheries and Rural Development,

Dubrovnik-Neretva County and the local municipali-

ties on an equal basis.^31 Such an insurance scheme

may become necessary for other fisheries should inva-

sive species begin to cause more damage in other ar-

eas. However, care should be taken in designing such

schemes, to ensure the scheme does not stop neces-

sary adjustments being made in the fisheries sector.

9.7.3. Analysis of available technological

options for adaptation

Neighbouring countries with warmer climates, such

as Turkey and Greece, have already developed the

technological options necessary to manage the influ-

ence of global warming on the fishery and maricul-

ture sectors. Their experiences in fishing techniques

and catching invasive species should be transferred to

the Adriatic, as should their methods of culturing sea

bass and sea bream under warmer conditions.