Ecological effects of climate change and livelihood adaptations in typical fishing areas: perceptions of fishermen's households

Climate change has caused direct impacts on the global marine ecological environment,and it has caused tremendous negative impacts on fishery resources, fishery production, and the livelihood of fishermen. Conversely,fishermen's families also affect the marine ecological environment by adapting their livelihoods to accommodate a climate change scenario. So far,there are few research achievements on the perceptions of livelihood,the livelihood adaptation of fishermen's to climate change,and ecological effects,and there are few empirical research based on household. This work selects Yacheng,a town of Xiapu County in Fujian,as a study area. This is a typical fishing area located on the southeast coast of China,and the index of the perception of climate change's impact was built using data from 158 families using the Participatory Rural Appraisal( PRA) to reveal the inherent connection between the index and livelihood capital. Theadjustment of the adaptive strategies of fishermen' s families and the ecological effects of these strategies were further explored. The results showed that:( 1) fishermen's perceptions of climate change and its impacts are relatively strong; ( 2)the index of the perception of climate change's impact and the livelihood capital of fishermen are correlated; ( 3) fishermen have mainly adjusted their livelihood strategies and diversified their incomes; and( 4) the adjustment and adaptive strategies of fishermen's livelihoods cause both positive and negative impacts on the marine ecological environment. Based on these results,we put forth some policy suggestions to provide a useful reference on coping with climate change for local fishing areas,and offer recommendations for protecting the security of fishermen's livelihood,avoiding the risks of climate change,and protecting the marine ecological environment.