Stronger adaptive response among small-scale fishers experiencing greater climate change hazard exposure

Stronger adaptive response among small-scale fishers experiencing greater climate change hazard exposure

Play all audios:

Loading...

ABSTRACT Progressive climate-driven environmental changes are threatening the global livelihoods of small-scale fishers, yet how their adaptation responses vary in relation to hazard


exposure is poorly understood. We use a systematic review approach to identify a global data set of 301 reported adaptation responses (remaining, adaptive, and transformative) of small-scale


fishers to climate change and analyse their spatial agreement with estimated geographical location of global coastal hotspot areas for specific climate change hazards associated to those


responses (long-term trends in sea surface temperature, cumulative intensity of marine heatwaves, frequency of tropical storms, and intensity of associated storm surges). Only 37% of


responses were found in climate change hotspots. Despite this, our results evidence that fishers are responding more passively in areas with lower exposure levels to abrupt climatic events.


The relative proportion of adaptive and transformative responses increase with climate change hazard exposure. SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS ADAPTIVE FISHERIES RESPONSES MAY LEAD TO


CLIMATE MALADAPTATION IN THE ABSENCE OF ACCESS REGULATIONS Article Open access 29 March 2023 ECOSYSTEM-BASED FISHERIES MANAGEMENT FORESTALLS CLIMATE-DRIVEN COLLAPSE Article Open access 11


September 2020 A CLIMATE VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT OF THE FISH COMMUNITY IN THE WESTERN BALTIC SEA Article Open access 13 July 2024 INTRODUCTION Small-scale fisheries (SSF) employ over 90% of


the world’s capture fishers1, produce around half of the global catch directly consumed by humans2, and provide food and labor opportunities for ~100 million people around the globe3. They


are also especially vulnerable to the effects of anthropogenic climate change4,5. While increasing ocean temperatures are pushing marine species towards colder environments in higher


latitudes and deeper waters6,7,8,9, small-scale fishers struggle to maintain their traditional livelihoods10,11. Warming is but one of the many faces of climate change. Progressive


environmental trends of ocean acidification, altered rainfall regimes, and more frequent and intense extreme events (e.g., marine heatwaves, cyclones, and storms)12,13 apply additional


pressure on SSF by putting the safety of fishing operations at risk or by damaging infrastructure and housing14,15,16. Whilst fishers’ responses to climate change are increasingly being


reported in the literature17,18,19, climate change adaptation responses have been mainly investigated using climate change projections or hypothetical impacts, and existing studies rarely


address exposure to compound climate change hazards20. Identifying current hotspots of climate change exposure in relation to existing adaptation strategies can shed light on these questions


as natural laboratories that lead to the advancement of adaptation science and policy across spatial scales21,22. Recent work suggests that adaptation responses in fisheries cover a range


of strategies, from remaining and coping to adapting and transforming23,24,25, and that, among other drivers, the choice of response can be shaped by the magnitude of climate change


impacts26. Adaptive responses have been defined as changes in existing practices and behaviors allowing the pre-existing social–ecological system to absorb the change, while transformative


responses can alter the existing social–ecological system, possibly leading to the creation of a new system24. The literature proposes that transformative responses are adopted, for example,


as incremental impacts accumulate or after radical ecosystem shifts26. However, this novel theoretical foundation is still supported by little empirical evidence on how the nature and


characteristics of the hazard can shape adaptive or transformative individual responses24,27. Here, we address these research gaps using a systematic review approach28,29. From an initial,


exhaustive review of 680 scientific papers and technical reports, we select 60 documents that meet our screening criteria from which we extract and categorize (remain, adapt, transform) past


and/or current autochthonous responses of small-scale fishers to climate change (see “Methods”). We define “autochthonous responses” as deliberate local adaptations undertaken solely by


small groups or individuals (i.e., small-scale fishers) exposed to multi-scalar drivers and feedbacks30,31. Past literature has primarily focused on large-scale adaptations in high-income


counties32. However, individual responses are always present, regardless of the presence or absence of top-down adaptation plans or strategies, because individual fishers must adapt to


sustain themselves33. For this reason, we focus on individual autochthonous responses as they are the first level of response and thus play a defining role in climate change adaptation. We


then analyze the spatial correspondence of these responses by type (remaining, adaptive, and transformative responses) with coastal climate change hazard hotspots. We use the hazards most


frequently reported to elicit fishers’ responses in the literature (i.e., observed rates of ocean warming and intensity of marine heatwaves, frequency of tropical storm, and associated storm


surges) (see “Methods”). This allows us to answer the following questions: (a) which and where are the most prevalent climate change hazards impacting SSF worldwide?; (b) where and what


type of in situ responses of small-scale fishers to climate change are being reported in the literature?; and (c) are the adaptations reported in the literature located within climate change


hotspots and does that correspondence in any way condition the type of adaptation response? RESULTS AND DISCUSSION CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS AND ADAPTATIONS IN THE LITERATURE We extracted 301


reported responses of small-scale fishers to climate change from 60 documents that fulfilled all eligibility criteria between the years 2008 and 2020 (Supplementary Table 1, Supplementary


Fig. 1, and Supplementary Data 1). The increasing trend in the number of literature reporting fishers’ adaptation over the last decade (Fig. 1a) provides clear evidence that climate-driven


change in marine systems is a present reality mediating autochthonous response behavior in small-scale fisheries systems33, which is gaining momentum in climate change research. The reported


responses of SSF were mostly attributed to a decrease in marine resources coupled to long-term sea-surface temperature (SST) increase (46%), increasing frequency of tropical storms (19%),


coastal floods, and sea surges (11%), and marine heatwaves (MHWs) or events associated to them (e.g., coral bleaching events) (6%) (Supplementary Table 2). Almost half of the hazards were


categorized to impact resource availability (48%), whereas only 16% were found to impact solely fishing operations (16%) (i.e., storm frequency, sea surges, disease outbreaks, and harmful


algal blooms caused by marine heatwaves) (Supplementary Data 2). Climate-driven shifting stocks and catch decrease are considered as two of the greatest threats to current fisheries


worldwide and in the future34,35. Indeed, most of the existing climate change-related SSF literature focuses on such impacts36,37,38. Yet, fishing operation hazards can reduce the number of


“fishable” days, endanger fishers during their fishing operations, and impact fishing operational costs17,39,40. It is necessary to emphasize that these results do not imply that hazards


impacting fishing operations are not considerably impacting SSF worldwide, but rather that those impacts have not been captured by previous literature. Thirty-five percent of the responses


were attributed to both resource availability and fishing operations, suggesting that these two hazards often co-occur simultaneously. Most of the adaptations were found inside the tropical


belt (23.5 degrees north and south of the Equator), particularly in South East Asia, India, and Bangladesh (_n_ = 152), followed by Africa (_n_ = 91), and Latin America (_n_ = 19) (Fig. 1b).


United States of America (_n_ = 17) and Europe (_n_ = 2) were the regions with the lowest number of reported autochthonous SSF adaptations. OVERLAP BETWEEN ADAPTATIONS AND CLIMATE CHANGE


HOTSPOTS Although most of the reported adaptations were found in the tropics, thus associated to hazards tied to tropical regions, we found that the climate change hotspots (i.e., the 90th


percentile hazard exposure regions) concentrated within temperate regions with a few exceptions, such as the North Pacific Coast of South America, the Atlantic Coast of Angola and Namibia,


and the South-Eastern coast of Australia (Fig. 2 and Supplementary Fig. 2). Temperate and high-latitude regions also emerge as prominent cumulative hazard exposure areas in which hotspots


for single climate change hazards overlap (Fig. 3d). For example, the North East Atlantic Ocean, Artic region, semi-enclosed seas (such as the Mediterranean, Black Sea, North Sea, and the


Baltic Sea), Gulf of California, Atlantic coast of Uruguay and Brazil and South-western coast of Australia were hotspots (90th percentile regions) for both SST warming and MHWs (Fig. 2a, b).


The North Sea appears as a hotspot of MHWs and storm surges (Fig. 2b, d and Supplementary Fig. 2). From 281 responses analyzed, less than half (37%) were located in coastal hazard hotspots


(90th percentile). This number more than doubled at the 75th percentile threshold with a total 233 exposed responses (Fig. 3 and Supplementary Data 3 and 4). Although we reduced


uncertainties associated to the response locations by applying a 100 km buffer radius, taken as a good compromise distance considering the spatial information available and the distance


small-scale fisheries operate from port, inaccuracies in the inferred geographical location of the responses (Supplementary Methods), might have contributed to bias these results to some


extent. Importantly, however, results were overall consistent irrespective of the distance from location (see “Methods” and Supplementary Table 3). Temperate and high-latitude regions


remained exposed to a single or a pair of hazards across exposure thresholds, whereas tropical and subtropical regions often experienced exposure to three or even locally four hazards at


lower exposure thresholds (25th and 50th percentiles; Fig. 3a, b). Although exposure to compounded climate change hazards can elicit larger than expected impacts where they interact


synergistically even at relatively low magnitudes41, this possibility has been scarcely explored for SSF42 and urgently calls for future research on the subject. It is also important to note


that temperate marine ectotherms have greater thermal tolerance windows than tropical ones, possibly leading to faster poleward migration of tropical species with lower increasing SST


rates43,44. This is something that may contribute to adaptation being more responsive in the tropics to lower levels of warming compared to temperate regions. This trend may well intensify


in the future, as climate change generates a global geographical imbalance of climate-driven expansions and contractions of fishery stocks between tropical and higher latitude regions45. In


addition, coastal low-income countries concentrated in tropical regions are not only more vulnerable to climate change because of infrastructure and institutional constraints but are also


predicted to experience some of the most devastating impacts of climate change in the future46,47,48. The high vulnerability together with the economic and food security importance of SSF in


low-income countries49,50 might help explain the focus of the climate change adaptation literature in these tropical regions that we observe in our results. On the other hand, the


perception of low risk and high adaptive capacity in high-income countries could also have lead research and institutions in these regions to prioritize other issues, such as regulating


overfishing or fisheries management51,52. This, however, might be changing as the effects of climate change become more evident. Although there are new studies reporting climate change


adaptations of small-scale fishers in temperate and Arctic regions53, they were not included in this study due to the mismatch with the time scope of our analysis. ADAPTATION TYPES The


remaining responses were the least frequent, contributing to only 10% of all fishers’ responses found in the literature. This evidences that most fishers are actively responding to the


impacts of climate change. The most common remaining responses were borrowing money from money lenders or family and friends (29% of remaining responses), reducing household expenses (16%),


and sitting and waiting for better weather/marine resource recovery (16%). These types of responses have been attributed in the literature to multiple factors such as individuals not


recognizing the threat54, fishers attributing the impacts to other local pressures due to existing mental models55,56, or fishers not having the resources to respond. However, we found that


most remaining responses in our literature review were attributed to capital and knowledge constraints and a sense of powerlessness39,57,58,59. Adaptive responses were the most abundant,


comprising 63% of all responses found in the literature review. They comprised a great variety of responses, including change in fishing gear and methods (19% of the adaptive responses),


increase in fishing effort (9%), and use of new fishing technology and social networks (each 8%, respectively) as the most frequent ones (Supplementary Data 2). These types of responses are


often described as coping mechanisms in the short term and are often viewed as ‘maladaptive’ because of the high likelihood of exacerbating environmental degradation in the long term


through, for example, overfishing or use of inappropriate fishing practices60. A great part of the adaptive responses we found in the literature review, such as increasing fishing effort or


starting illegal fishing practices, could exacerbate the impacts of climate change. However, sometimes there was a trade-off between adaptive responses that could heighten the impacts of


climate change and adaptive responses that could increase the adaptive capacity of the fishing communities. For example, responses such as changing fishing gear or methods lead fishers to


select less selective and more potentially harmful fishing methods40, but also provided fishers with more flexibility to adapt to decreasing marine resources helping them transcend their


individual limitations to adapt61,62. In various documents, we also found that using social networks and creating self-support groups allowed fishers to share increasing expenses63, exchange


local knowledge and adaptive strategies15, and collectively prepare for upcoming storms64. Transformative responses were less abundant than adaptive ones, making 27% of all responses


(Supplementary Data 2). The most frequent responses found were diversifying livelihoods, which comprised 49% of transformative responses, and migration (26%). Transformative responses are


mainly described as anticipatory, and aim at reducing the root cause of the vulnerability of communities to climate change24,26. Alternative livelihoods can enable fishers reduce fishing


pressure and their vulnerability to external shocks65. However, we found that in some cases fishers opted for farming and livestock as alternative livelihoods, even in locations where


droughts were increasingly being observed40,66. Migration has also been reported previously as an important adaptation of fishers in West Africa to climate change67, and in our literature


review, many fishers migrated seasonally to compensate for climate-driven catch losses. However, migrating entailed large monetary investments, did not necessarily ensure them finding a job


or better living conditions elsewhere, while outmigration can fracture communities by breaking networks and transforming relationships40,58. CLIMATE CHANGE HAZARD EXPOSURE LEVELS SHAPING


RESPONSES Differences in the level of hazard exposure can also elicit distinct types of climate change responses, from coping and incremental (adaptive) to transformative adaptations26. We


found some indication of such relationships between the type of adaptation response, the hazard exposure level, and the cumulative exposure to hazards. Remaining responses had the lowest


relative proportions across all exposure levels and the cumulative number of hazards (Fig. 4). We also found a higher relative proportion of remaining responses in areas with the lowest


exposure levels to single hazards (Fig. 4a), and in locations exposed to lower levels of co-occurring hazards (Fig. 4b). Remaining responses were also not present in the highest exposure


level (90th percentile) for MHWs and highest co-occurrence of hazards in the higher percentiles (50th, 75th, and 90th). However, they were still found in the highest exposure levels (75th


and 90th percentile) of SST rate of change, storm surge intensity, and storm frequency. Higher levels of exposure were associated with higher proportions of adaptive and transformative


responses for all hazards (i.e., the 75th and 90th percentile), albeit no clear differences between the adaptive and transformative responses emerged among the different exposure levels. At


the highest exposure thresholds (75th and 90th percentile), there was also no clear difference between adaptive and transformative responses with growing cumulative number of hazards at any


of the exposure level (Fig. 4b). Our results follow to some extent the adaptation strategies gradient coupled to increasing hazard level exposure proposed in the literature26, but


differences among climate change hazards and the lack of clear differences between adaptive and transformative responses may highlight that exposure alone cannot explain fishers’ responses


to climate change. Being at the interface between terrestrial and marine systems, coastal communities are also exposed to a wide range of additional climatic hazards, such as flooding or


droughts, that may also influence SSF adaptive responses to a changing climate68. Various studies also highlight how the socio-economic context, such as the individual adaptive capacity can


shape fishers’ responses to climate change22,24,27. We could not obtain the required information from the original documents identified by our literature review to, for example, include the


adaptive capacity domains used in ref. 24 or the social–ecological capital used in ref. 69 in our analysis. Using aggregated capacity indices from international databases, such as GDP, the


GIBNI Index or Institutional compliance, would be possible but potentially inaccurate given that these indices are only available at the country level and, importantly, do not focus


specifically on the artisanal fishing activity. Individual fishers have limited adaptive capacity and our results partly show, for example, the crucial role that the community plays in SFF


when facing climate change to exchange knowledge, reduce high costs or as support systems15,63,64. However, transformative responses face many barriers for their implementation due to the


high monetary, social and political support needed26. Fishing communities may also need to access new information, fishing strategies, resource management regimes or alternative livelihoods


to face the new challenges arising from climate change. Gianelli et al.22 confirm this by showing how combining autochthonous adaptations and perceptions of fishers with scientific and


institutional effort, benefited the social learning process through adaptive and transformative pathways across levels in a climate change hotspot22,24,68. While, in this study, we focused


on adaptation at the individual level, adaptation for building resilience to climate change can also be promoted at a multi-sectoral collective level70, for example, by coordinating the


autochthonous responses of the fishers and fishing communities with high-level policies and actions to respond to the acute effects of climate change. This is of vital importance as existing


fisheries regulations and fisheries policies may limit fishers’ flexibility to adapt to climate change71. Further research could empirically explore the relationships between hazards,


adaptation responses, and the social and institutional context at different levels. CONCLUSION Local knowledge of SSF-systems still lacks recognition, but our results together with the


existing literature analyzing marine systems responses to climate change worldwide17,18 shed some light on understanding SSF autochthonous adaptations to climate change. Our results provide


evidence that the SSF climate change adaptation literature has mainly focused on tropical regions even though climate change hotspots were mostly found in temperate regions. Despite the


importance of this focus, this study highlights the lack of understanding of the responses of SSF in those regions where the impacts of climate change are currently more acute, i.e., climate


change hotspots. Disentangling which factors (i.e., levels of exposure to climate change hazards or the socio-economic dynamics in which marine social–ecological systems are embedded27) are


driving remaining, adaptive, or transformative responses is critical to better comprehend fishers’ ability and willingness to respond to these changes in the future27. A better


understanding of the adaptation strategies and responses that SSF are already implementing in climate change hotspots may facilitate the anticipation and implementation of adaptation


strategies, given the climate change projected in the future irrespective of the climate mitigation actions enforced72,73. METHODS LITERATURE REVIEW We followed the methodological framework


for systematic reviews provided by the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence28,29. Firstly, the inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected using the population (P), exposure (E),


comparator (C), and outcome (O) (i.e., PECO) elements following common practice in systematic evidence synthesis28,29,74,75. The PECO framework was developed to create clearly-framed


research objectives and questions for systematic reviews in the fields of nutrition, environmental and occupational health, to assess the association between exposures and outcomes75. For


this study, we only considered documents that presented past and/or current small-scale fisheries (SSF) (P) autochthonous responses (O) to ongoing climate change drivers (E) (Supplementary


Table 1). Due to the large heterogeneity in fishing operations and vessels that arises from assessing fisheries worldwide76, we did not limit SSF to one single definition. Every study that


considered their adaptive systems as SSF was included in the analysis. The comparator (C) element was not used during the selection process as it was included later, when comparing the


different levels of climate change hazard exposure28. Following ref. 77 guidelines for generating search strings, we first conducted a “naive search” (i.e., a search using keywords that we


considered relevant for the aim of this study) using the Scopus citation index. We then used the _litsearchr_ R package77 and the statistics program R version 4.0.278 to systematically find


keywords and generate a search string which was modified until the “golden rule” was met (i.e., until all studies identified during the “naive search” as containing the information required


to answer the research questions appeared in the search results) (Supplementary Note 1 and Supplementary Table 4). A complementary search was conducted in Google Scholar to account for the


large portion of adaptation literature produced by governments, or non-governmental organizations that are mainly available as gray literature (_n_ = 150)18,29. We then imported the search


results into Mendeley reference manager (Supplementary Table 5) and de-duplicated them (_n_ = 680). During the title and abstract screening, all records not meeting the selections criteria


were excluded (Supplementary Table 1). Records providing only biological information, land-based activities or that were otherwise not related to the research questions were consequently


excluded in the title screening (_n_ = 242) (see Supplementary Methods). Due to time and workforce constraints, the abstract screening for the resulting set of documents (_n_ = 438) was only


conducted by the first author. However, a random subsample of 60 documents (>10% of the total sample size as suggested by CEE 2018) was separately screened by each co-author using the


established selection criteria to assess the consistency of results. Disagreements (23% of the subsample) were then discussed and the inclusion/exclusion decisions (Supplementary Table 1)


revised accordingly and reapplied to the remaining abstracts. All records resulting from the abstract screening (_n_ = 200) were thoroughly assessed. In this study, we only considered


existing reported autochthonous adaptation responses of small-scale fishers to ongoing or past climate change drivers. Even though climate change literature is abundant across many regions,


we excluded documents that did not meet the selection criteria, and for example, only focused on potential autochthonous adaptations to future impacts79, addressed institutional adaptations


and/or interventions80, or did not explicitly attribute the fishers responses to climate change81. This drastically reduced the number of records and regions included in the analysis (_n_ = 


60) (Supplementary Fig. 3 and Supplementary Data 1 and 4). Literature in French was excluded in this step due to language limitations (_n_ = 2). Each fisher’s response identified was treated


as a single response unit for which we collected the following additional information when available: coordinates, or the name of the location if they were not given (Supplementary Note 2),


the climate change hazard identified as motivating the response, and, if existing, any other stressor related to the response (e.g., overfishing, illegal fishing, price decrease, and change


in management strategy). Important information, such as fishers’ adaptive capacity or climate change perception, was very scarce, hence, was not possible to collect. In the case of


adaptation responses identified from review articles, we used the primary literature source referenced by the authors of the review article for full-text screening (i.e., “snowballing”) (_n_


 = 38). We followed the same exclusion procedure as described above to obtain two new documents with past autochthonous adaptations of SSF (Supplementary Note 2 and Supplementary Fig. 1).


CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATIONS First, we coded each response unit into overarching adaptation terms for a better overview. We then classified the fishers autochthonous responses using a modified


version of the adaptive–transformative classification used in ref. 24. This framework allowed us to categorize the responses in an ordered manner without requiring unavailable context and


allowed us to test if the adaptation types (proposed by Fedele et al.26) change with increasing climate change exposure26. For this, we defined our social–ecological systems as a fishing


individual interacting with (a) specific marine resource(s) attached to a defined location. Fishers’ responses, where the fishers were considered to suffer the economic losses and did not


represent an active adaptation response, were classified as remaining responses. Responses that allowed the actor to absorb and/or accommodate to the change without altering the fundamental


characteristics and reinforcing the social–ecological systems were considered adaptive; whereas responses truly altering the social–ecological system’s properties and allowing fishers to


reduce the root causes of vulnerability were considered transformative (Supplementary Data 5). CLIMATE CHANGE HAZARDS We found a total of 23 climate change drivers (i.e., hazards and


impacts) documented to elicit responses in the literature review. First, each climate change driver was classified into those related to resource availability and those affecting fishing


operations as suggested by Cheung et al.82 (Supplementary Data 4). For the exposure analysis, we focused on the most frequent climatic hazards reported in the literature. We first calculated


the frequency in which each driver was mentioned, taking into account that each response unit could be attributed to more than one climate change driver. Then, we attributed a climate


change hazard to each driver, based on the context provided by each study (if the driver mentioned in the literature was already a hazard, the original hazard was selected) (Supplementary


Table 2). For this purpose, climate change hazard was defined as the “occurrence of a […] human-induced physical event or trend that may cause loss of life, injury, or other health impacts,


as well as damage and loss to property, infrastructure, livelihoods, service provision, ecosystems and environmental resources”83. The most frequent (>5% frequency threshold) climate


hazards were: rates of change in sea-surface temperature (SST) (46%), frequency of tropical storms (19%), the intensity of storm surges (11%), and cumulative intensity of marine heatwaves


(MHWs) (6%), (Supplementary Table 2). We used SST as a proxy for changes in resource availability driven by ocean warming72. The decadal oscillation changes were described in the literature


as prolonged discrete anomalously warm water events and are known to be one of the of climate change on natural climate variability such as El Niño Southern Oscillation. For this reason,


this driver was included in the MHWs hazard84. Sea-surface temperature (SST) trends (°C/year) were calculated as the slope of the linear regression of monthly averaged SST over the period


1982–2018 using the 0.25° daily Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface Temperature (OISST) data set of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)85. Marine heatwave (MHW) average


intensity and duration were sourced from the data set provided by the Marine Heatwaves International Working Group86. This data set is available globally at 0.25° grid resolution from 1982


to 2018 and have been calculated using OISST AVHRR-only85 data following87. We then calculated the total accumulated intensity (TAI) per grid cell as the sum of the accumulated intensities


for all the events that occurred in that cell over the study period (1982–2018), where the accumulated intensity of a single event is defined as the product of its average intensity by its


duration. The storm surge data were obtained from the Global Tide and Surge Reanalysis (GTSR) global data set88. The GTSR is provided as 12,000 coastline segments of variable length with


associated estimates of extreme sea levels associated to a 1-in-100-year return period calculated for the period 1974–201488. We used these values as our index of exposure for this hazard by


directly rasterizing the estimated storm surge levels associated to each coastline segment to our 0.25° working grid resolution. The frequency of tropical storms data (1980–2018) were


obtained from the Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS) collected by the NOAA National Climatic Data Center from different Tropical Cyclones Warning Centers and the WMO


Regional Specialized Meteorological Centers (RSMCs)89,90. First, we unified the reported wind speeds to the common duration of 1-min average by multiplying the maximum sustained wind speeds


at 10 m above the surface with different average durations (2-min, 3-min, and 10-min averaging periods) by their corresponding conversion factors (1.03, 1.05 and 1.11 for respectively 2-min,


3-min and 10-min winds)91. Only hurricane-category storms as defined by the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, i.e., storms with a 1-min-average maximum sustained winds of at least 33 m/s


(64 knots), were retained for analysis. The storm frequency was then estimated by dividing the total number of hurricane events in each 0.25° grid cell by the corresponding number of years


(29) (Supplementary Table 6). DATA ANALYSIS Given small-scale fishing communities are located and develop their activity predominantly in coastal waters, we define our hazard hotspots as


those areas comprising coastal cells with values equal or greater than the 90th percentile of the values of all coastal cells for a given climatic hazard. Where the 90th percentile


represents those locations having values above the 90% of all locations analyzed per hazard and is often used to identify climate change hotspots72,92. We also calculated the quartiles


associated to each hazard in the same fashion to contrast SSF responses against a range of different levels of exposure. Coastal cells were globally defined as all cells within exclusive


economic zone (EEZ) boundaries93. We defined exposure as the “occurrence of a natural or human-induced physical event that may cause loss of life, injury, or other health impacts, as well as


damage and loss to property, infrastructure, livelihoods, service provision, ecosystems, and environmental resources”83. To analyze how the level of exposure to climatic hazards elicits the


fishers’ response type (remaining, adaptive, and transformative), we examined the spatial correspondence between the location of each adaptation response with the level of exposure existing


in the nearby coastal areas for each exposure threshold (25th (low), 50th (medium), 75th (high), and 90th (hotspot) percentiles) for each individual hazard as well as the aggregated effect


of all hazards together at a given threshold level (i.e., cumulative exposure). We counted the number of adaptations (per response type) found inside each exposure threshold and the


cumulative number of hazards using 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, and 300 km as buffer radii (Supplementary Table 3 and Supplementary Fig. 4). Taking the spatial constraints of the SSF


distance94,95 we counted the number of adaptations found inside each exposure threshold using 100 km as a buffer radius for the final results (Supplementary Data 2 and 3). The responses for


which no location was provided (_n_ = 20), were documented but excluded from the hotspot and percentile analysis, resulting in 281 responses (Supplementary Note 2). DATA AVAILABILITY The


following Supplementary Data that support the findings of this study are available in Zenodo: (a) Supplementary Data 1: Small-scale fishers’ adaptations to climate change database at


https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7097406; (b) Supplementary Data 2: Classification and frequency of climate change drivers and responses of small-scale fishers at


https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7054437; (c) Supplementary Data 3: Types of fishers’ adaptations with increasing single hazard exposure at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7054459; (d)


Supplementary Data 4: Number of fishers adaptations with the increasing cumulative number of hazards at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7054469; (e) Supplementary Data 5: Literature


presenting past climate change small-scale fishers’ adaptations (2008–2020) at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7054413. REFERENCES * Kelleher, K. et al. _Hidden Harvest: The Global


Contribution of Capture Fisheries_ (Worldbank, 2012). * Pauly, D. & Zeller, D. Catch reconstructions reveal that global marine fisheries catches are higher than reported and declining.


_Nat. Commun._ 7, 10244 (2016). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * FAO. _The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018—Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals_ (Food and Agriculture


Organization, 2018). * Cheung, W. W. L., Brodeur, R. D., Okey, T. A. & Pauly, D. Projecting future changes in distributions of pelagic fish species of Northeast Pacific shelf seas.


_Progr. Oceanography_ 130, 19–31 (2015). Article  Google Scholar  * IPCC. Annex II: Glossary [Mach, K.J., S. Planton and C. von Stechow (eds.)]. in _Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report.


Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, R.K. Pachauri and L.A. Meyer (eds.)]_ (eds


Mach, K. J., Planton, S. & von Stechow, C.) 117–130 (IPCC, 2014). * Pörtner, H. O. & Peck, M. A. Climate change effects on fishes and fisheries: towards a cause-and-effect


understanding. _J. Fish Biol._ 77, 1745–1779 (2010). Article  Google Scholar  * Horta e Costa, B. et al. Tropicalization of fish assemblages in temperate biogeographic transition zones.


_Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser._ 504, 241–252 (2014). Article  Google Scholar  * Poloczanska, E. S. et al. Responses of marine organisms to climate change across oceans. _Front. Mar. Sci_. 3, 62


(2016). * Kumagai, N. H. et al. Ocean currents and herbivory drive macroalgae-to-coral community shift under climate warming. _Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA_ 115, 8990–8995 (2018). Article  CAS


  Google Scholar  * Pecl, G. T. et al. Biodiversity redistribution under climate change: Impacts on ecosystems and human well-being. _Science_ 355, eaai9214 (2017). Article  Google Scholar 


* Young, T. et al. Adaptation strategies of coastal fishing communities as species shift poleward. _ICES J. Mar. Sci._ 76, 93–103 (2019). Article  Google Scholar  * Pörtner, H. O. et al.


_Ocean systems._ in _Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the


Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change_ (eds Field, C. B. et al.) 411–484 (Cambridge University Press, 2014). * Stott, P. A. et al. Attribution of extreme weather and climate-related


events: attribution of extreme weather and climate-related events. _WIREs Clim. Change_ 7, 23–41 (2016). Article  Google Scholar  * Iwasaki, S., Razafindrabe, B. H. N. & Shaw, R. Fishery


livelihoods and adaptation to climate change: a case study of Chilika lagoon, India. _Mitig. Adapt. Strateg. Glob. Change_ 14, 339–355 (2009). Article  Google Scholar  * Deb, A. K. &


Haque, C. E. Livelihood diversification as a climate change coping strategy adopted by small-scale fishers of Bangladesh. in _Climate Change Adaptation, Resilience and Hazards_ (eds Filho,


W. L. et al.) 345–368 (Springer International Publishing, 2016). * Lindegren, M. & Brander, K. Adapting fisheries and their management to climate change: a review of concepts, tools,


frameworks, and current progress toward implementation. _Rev. Fisheries Sci. Aquaculture_ 26, 400–415 (2018). Article  Google Scholar  * Savo, V., Morton, C. & Lepofsky, D. Impacts of


climate change for coastal fishers and implications for fisheries. _Fish Fish_ 18, 877–889 (2017). Article  Google Scholar  * Miller, D. D., Ota, Y., Sumaila, U. R., Cisneros-Montemayor, A.


M. & Cheung, W. W. L. Adaptation strategies to climate change in marine systems. _Glob. Change Biol._ 24, e1–e14 (2017). Article  Google Scholar  * Schlingmann, A. et al. Global patterns


of adaptation to climate change by Indigenous Peoples and local communities. A systematic review. _Curr. Opin. Environ. Sustain._ 51, 55–64 (2021). Article  Google Scholar  * Conway, D. et


al. The need for bottom-up assessments of climate risks and adaptation in climate-sensitive regions. _Nat. Clim. Chang._ 9, 503–511 (2019). Article  Google Scholar  * Pecl, G. T., Hobday, A.


J., Frusher, S., Sauer, W. H. H. & Bates, A. E. Ocean warming hotspots provide early warning laboratories for climate change impacts. _Rev Fish Biol. Fisheries_ 24, 409–413 (2014).


Article  Google Scholar  * Gianelli, I., Ortega, L., Pittman, J., Vasconcellos, M. & Defeo, O. Harnessing scientific and local knowledge to face climate change in small-scale fisheries.


_Glob. Environ. Change_ 68, 102253 (2021). Article  Google Scholar  * Galappaththi, E. K., Ford, J. D. & Bennett, E. M. A framework for assessing community adaptation to climate change


in a fisheries context. _Environ. Sci. Policy_ 92, 17–26 (2019). Article  Google Scholar  * Barnes, M. L. et al. Social determinants of adaptive and transformative responses to climate


change. _Nat. Clim. Chang._ 10, 823–828 (2020). Article  Google Scholar  * Ojea, E., Lester, S. E. & Salgueiro-Otero, D. Adaptation of fishing communities to climate-driven shifts in


target species. _One Earth_ 2, 544–556 (2020). Article  Google Scholar  * Fedele, G., Donatti, C. I., Harvey, C. A., Hannah, L. & Hole, D. G. Transformative adaptation to climate change


for sustainable social-ecological systems. _Environ. Sci. Policy_ 101, 116–125 (2019). Article  Google Scholar  * Green, K. M. et al. How adaptive capacity shapes the adapt, react, cope


response to climate impacts: insights from small-scale fisheries. _Clim. Change_ 164, 15 (2021). Article  Google Scholar  * James, K. L., Randall, N. P. & Haddaway, N. R. A methodology


for systematic mapping in environmental sciences. _Environ. Evid._ 5, 7 (2016). Article  Google Scholar  * CEE 2018. _Guidelines for Authors | Environmental Evidence_


http://www.environmentalevidence.org/information-for-authors (2018). * Howard, P. L. Human adaptation to invasive species: a conceptual framework based on a case study meta-synthesis.


_Ambio_ 48, 1401–1430 (2019). Article  Google Scholar  * Thornton, T. F., Puri, R. K., Bhagwat, S. & Howard, P. Human adaptation to biodiversity change: an adaptation process approach


applied to a case study from southern India. _Ambio_ 48, 1431–1446 (2019). Article  Google Scholar  * Howard, P. Human adaptation to biodiversity change: facing the challenges of global


governance without science? Paper presented to the 2009 Amsterdam Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change, 2–4 December (2013). * Howard, P. L. & Pecl, G. T.


Introduction: autochthonous human adaptation to biodiversity change in the Anthropocene. _Ambio_ 48, 1389–1400 (2019). Article  Google Scholar  * Bindoff, N. L. et al. Changing ccean, marine


ecosystems, and dependent communities. in _IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate_ (eds. Pörtner, H. O. et al.) 447–587 (2019). * Golden, C. D. et al.


Nutrition: fall in fish catch threatens human health. _Nature_ 534, 317–320 (2016). Article  Google Scholar  * Plagányi, É. Climate change impacts on fisheries. _Science_ 363, 930–931


(2019). Article  Google Scholar  * Papaioannou, E. A. et al. Not all those who wander are lost—responses of fishers’ communities to shifts in the distribution and abundance of fish. _Front.


Mar. Sci._ 8, 669094 (2021). Article  Google Scholar  * Fogarty, H. E., Cvitanovic, C., Hobday, A. J. & Pecl, G. T. Prepared for change? An assessment of the current state of knowledge


to support climate adaptation for Australian fisheries. _Rev. Fish Biol. Fisheries_ 29, 877–894 (2019). Article  Google Scholar  * Pattinama, E. & Vieldha Ayhuan, V. The role of religion


to face climate change: a survival strategy of Christian fishermen families to embody gender perspective and spirituality of GPM’s congregation in coastal area of Nusaniwe Subdistrict Ambon


City. in _Proceedings of the International Conference on Religion and Public Civilization (ICRPC 2018)_ (Atlantis Press, 2019). * Esia-Donkoh, K. _Fishing Communities’ Adaptation to Climate


Change at Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem Municipality, Ghana_ (University for Development Studies, 2017). * Simpson, N. P. et al. A framework for complex climate change risk assessment. _One


Earth_ 4, 489–501 (2021). Article  Google Scholar  * Gruber, N., Boyd, P. W., Frölicher, T. L. & Vogt, M. Biogeochemical extremes and compound events in the ocean. _Nature_ 600, 395–407


(2021). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Sunday, J. M., Bates, A. E. & Dulvy, N. K. Global analysis of thermal tolerance and latitude in ectotherms. _Proc. R. Soc. B._ 278, 1823–1830


(2011). Article  Google Scholar  * Chaudhary, C., Richardson, A. J., Schoeman, D. S. & Costello, M. J. Global warming is causing a more pronounced dip in marine species richness around


the equator. _Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA_ 118, e2015094118 (2021). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Pinsky, M. L. et al. Preparing ocean governance for species on the move. _Science_ 360,


1189–1191 (2018). Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Lam, V. W. Y. et al. Climate change, tropical fisheries and prospects for sustainable development. _Nat. Rev. Earth Environ._ 1, 440–454


(2020). Article  Google Scholar  * Sumaila, U. R., Cheung, W. W. L., Lam, V. W. Y., Pauly, D. & Herrick, S. Climate change impacts on the biophysics and economics of world fisheries.


_Nat. Clim. Change_ 1, 449–456 (2011). Article  Google Scholar  * Allison, E. H. et al. Vulnerability of national economies to the impacts of climate change on fisheries. _Fish Fisheries_


10, 173–196 (2009). Article  Google Scholar  * Allison, E. H. & Ellis, F. The livelihoods approach and management of small-scale fisheries. _Mar. Policy_ 25, 377–388 (2001). Article 


Google Scholar  * World Bank. _Hidden Harvest: The Global Contribution of Capture Fisheries_ (World Bank, 2012). * Ford, J. D., Berrang-Ford, L. & Paterson, J. A systematic review of


observed climate change adaptation in developed nations: a letter. _Clim. Change_ 106, 327–336 (2011). Article  Google Scholar  * Edvardsson, I. R., Tingley, D., Conides, A. J., Drakeford,


B. & Holm, D. Fishermen’s risk perception in four european countries. _Maritime Studies_ 139–159 (2011). * Schiøtt, S., Tejsner, P. & Rysgaard, S. Inuit and local knowledge on the


marine ecosystem in Ilulissat Icefjord, Greenland. _Hum. Ecol._ 50, 167–181 (2022). Article  Google Scholar  * Hogg, K., Semitiel-García, M., Noguera-Méndez, P., Gray, T. & Young, S.


Perceptions of threats facing Cabo de Palos—Islas Hormigas MPA and potential solutions. _Coastal Manag._ 46, 58–74 (2018). Article  Google Scholar  * Maltby, K. M., Simpson, S. D. &


Turner, R. A. Scepticism and perceived self-efficacy influence fishers’ low risk perceptions of climate change. _Clim. Risk Manag._ 31, 100267 (2021). Article  Google Scholar  * van Putten,


I. E. et al. Empirical evidence for different cognitive effects in explaining the attribution of marine range shifts to climate change. _ICES J. Mar. Sci._ 73, 1306–1318 (2016). Article 


Google Scholar  * Coulthard, S. Adapting to environmental change in artisanal fisheries—insights from a South Indian Lagoon. _Global Environ. Change_ 18, 479–489 (2008). Article  Google


Scholar  * Gammage, L. C. et al. A case study from the southern Cape linefishery 2: Considering one’s options when the fish leave. _South Afr. J. Sci._ 113, 1–10 (2017). * Mozumder, M. M.


H., Shamsuzzaman, Md. M., Rashed-Un-Nabi, Md. & Harun-Al-Rashid, A. Socio-economic characteristics and fishing operation activities of the artisanal fishers in the Sundarbans Mangrove


Forest, Bangladesh. _Turk. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci_. 18, 789–799 (2018). * Abel, N. et al. Building resilient pathways to transformation when “no one is in charge”: insights from Australia’s


Murray-Darling Basin. _E&S_ 21, art23 (2016). Article  Google Scholar  * Aguilera, S. E. et al. Managing small-scale commercial fisheries for adaptive capacity: insights from dynamic


social-ecological drivers of change in Monterey bay. _PLoS ONE_ 10, e0118992 (2015). Article  Google Scholar  * Fregene, B. T. Adaptation strategy by fisher folk to climate change in Ogun


State, Nigeria coastal fishing communities: Implications for sustainable artisanal fisheries livelihood. in _Proceedings of the 25th Annual Conference and Fair of the Fisheries Society of


Nigeria (FISON)_ 327–330 (2010). * Franklin, B. S. & Velusamy, Ma. Vulnerability of marine fishermen to nature-driven stressors. _JCR_ 7, 536–538 (2020). * Freduah, G., Fidelman, P.


& Smith, T. F. A framework for assessing adaptive capacity to multiple climatic and non-climatic stressors in small-scale fisheries. _Environ. Sci. Policy_ 101, 87–93 (2019). Article 


Google Scholar  * Roscher, M. B. et al. Sustainable development outcomes of livelihood diversification in small‐scale fisheries. _Fish Fisheries_ 23, 910–925 (2022). Article  Google Scholar


  * Basu, J. P. Coastal poverty, resource-dependent livelihood, climate change, and adaptation: an empirical study in Indian Coastal Sunderbans. in _Handbook of Research on Climate Change


Impact on Health and Environmental Sustainability_ (eds. Dinda, S. & Wang, Y.) 441–454 (IGI Global, 2016). * Binet, T., Bailleux, R. & Turmine, V. Des migrations de pêcheurs de plus


en plus conflictuelles en Afrique de l’Ouest: the migration of fishermen from more and more conflict in West Africa. _Revue Africaine des Affaires Maritimes et des Transports_ 5, 51–68


(2013). Google Scholar  * Wong, P. P. et al. Coastal systems and low-lying areas. in _Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects.


Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change_ (eds. Field, C. B. et al.) 360–409 (Cambridge University Press, 2014). *


Abel, N., Cumming, D. H. M. & Anderies, J. M. Collapse and reorganization in social-ecological systems: questions, some ideas, and policy implications. _E&S_ 11, art17 (2006).


Article  Google Scholar  * Mason, J. G. et al. Attributes of climate resilience in fisheries: from theory to practice. _Fish Fisheries_ 23, 522–544 (2022). Article  Google Scholar  *


Gonzalez-Mon, B. et al. Spatial diversification as a mechanism to adapt to environmental changes in small-scale fisheries. _Environ. Sci. Policy_ 116, 246–257 (2021). Article  Google Scholar


  * Hobday, A. J. & Pecl, G. T. Identification of global marine hotspots: sentinels for change and vanguards for adaptation action. _Rev. Fish Biol. Fisheries_ 24, 415–425 (2014).


Article  Google Scholar  * Pecl, G. T. et al. Autonomous adaptation to climate-driven change in marine biodiversity in a global marine hotspot. _Ambio_ 48, 1498–1515 (2019). Article  Google


Scholar  * Clapton, J., Rutter, D. & Sharif, N. SCIE Systematic mapping guidance. _SCIE_ http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/researchresources/rr03.pdf (2009). * Morgan, R. L., Whaley,


P., Thayer, K. A. & Schünemann, H. J. Identifying the PECO: a framework for formulating good questions to explore the association of environmental and other exposures with health


outcomes. _Environ. Int._ 121, 1027–1031 (2018). Article  Google Scholar  * Smith, H. & Basurto, X. Defining small-scale fisheries and examining the role of science in shaping


perceptions of who and what counts: a systematic review. _Front. Mar. Sci._ 6, 236 (2019). Article  Google Scholar  * Grames, E. M., Stillman, A. N., Tingley, M. W. & Elphick, C. S. An


automated approach to identifying search terms for systematic reviews using keyword co‐occurrence networks. _Methods Ecol. Evol._ 10, 1645–1654 (2019). Article  Google Scholar  * R Core


Team. _R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing_ (R Foundation for Statistical Computing, 2020). * Bell, J. D. et al. Adaptations to maintain the contributions of small-scale


fisheries to food security in the Pacific Islands. _Mar. Policy_ 88, 303–314 (2018). Article  Google Scholar  * Lovatelli, A. Technological innovation in mussel seed collection: a response


to climate change from fishing communities in southern Chile. _FAO_ 33, 37 (2009). Google Scholar  * Sievanen, L. How do small-scale fishers adapt to environmental variability? Lessons from


Baja California, Sur, Mexico. _Maritime Studies_ 13, 9 (2014). Article  Google Scholar  * Cheung, W. W. L., Pinnegar, J., Merino, G., Jones, M. C. & Barange, M. Review of climate change


impacts on marine fisheries in the UK and Ireland. _Aquatic Conserv: Mar. Freshw. Ecosyst_. 22, 368–388 (2012). * Matthews, J. B. R. et al. Annex VII: glossary. in _Climate Change 2021: The


Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change_ (eds Masson-Delmotte, V. et al.) Vol. IPCC 2021


(Cambridge University Press, 2021). * Bertrand, A. et al. _El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Effects on Fisheries and Aquaculture_ (FAO, 2020). * Huang, B. et al. NOAA 0.25-degree daily


optimum interpolation sea surface temperature (OISST), Version 2.1. https://doi.org/10.25921/RE9P-PT57 (2020). * Schlegel, R. W. Marine heatwave tracker. _Marine Heatwave Tracker_


http://www.marineheatwaves.org/tracker.html (2020). * Hobday, A. J. et al. A hierarchical approach to defining marine heatwaves. _Progr. Oceanography_ 141, 227–238 (2016). Article  Google


Scholar  * Muis, S., Verlaan, M., Winsemius, H. C., Aerts, J. C. J. H. & Ward, P. J. A global reanalysis of storm surges and extreme sea levels. _Nat. Commun._ 7, 11969 (2016). Article 


CAS  Google Scholar  * Knapp, K. R., Kruk, M. C., Levinson, D. H., Diamond, H. J. & Neumann, C. J. The international best track archive for climate stewardship (IBTrACS): unifying


tropical cyclone data. _Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc._ 91, 363–376 (2010). Article  Google Scholar  * Knapp, K. R., Diamon, H. J., Kossin, J. P., Kruk, M. C. & Schreck, C. J. International


Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS) Project, Version 4. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/metadata/landing-page/bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.ncdc:C01552 (2018). * Harper, B. A.,


Kepert, J. D. & Ginger, J. D. _Guidelines for Converting Between Various Wind Averaging Periods in Tropical Cyclone Conditions_. Vol. WMO/TD-No. 1555 (World Meteorological Organizaion,


2010). * Xu, L., Wang, A., Wang, D. & Wang, H. Hot spots of climate extremes in the future. _J. Geophys. Res. Atmos._ 124, 3035–3049 (2019). Article  Google Scholar  * Flanders Marine


Institute. Marine Regions. https://www.marineregions.org/disclaimer.php (2021). * Grati, F. et al. Mapping small‐scale fisheries through a coordinated participatory strategy. _Fish


Fisheries_ faf.12644 https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12644 (2022). * Johnson, A. F. et al. A spatial method to calculate small-scale fisheries effort in data poor scenarios. _PLoS ONE_ 12,


e0174064 (2017). Article  Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS J.G.M. is supported by a Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI Grant Number 19H04322.


E.O. and X.E.E.I. acknowledge financial support from the European Research Council through the project CLOCK (“Climate Adaptation to Shifting Stocks”; ERC Starting Grant Agreement n8679812;


EU Horizon 2020). X.E.E.I. is supported by a pre-doctoral fellowship from Universidade de Vigo (axudas para a contratación de persoal investigador predoutoral en formación da Universidade de


Vigo, 2020). Authors want to thank, without implicating, doMar Ph.D. comittee members Maria L. Loureiro and Joshua Cinner for their helpful comments on early versions of the work. AUTHOR


INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Centro de Investigación Mariña, Universidade de Vigo, Future Oceans Lab, Vigo, Spain Xochitl Édua Elías Ilosvay & Elena Ojea * Artic Research


Center, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan Jorge García Molinos Authors * Xochitl Édua Elías Ilosvay View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar *


Jorge García Molinos View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Elena Ojea View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed 


Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS X.E.E.I., J.G.M., and E.O. designed the research. X.E.E.I. and J.G.M. performed the research and analyzed the data. X.E.E.I., J.G.M., and E.O. wrote the paper.


CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Xochitl Édua Elías Ilosvay. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing interests. PEER REVIEW PEER REVIEW INFORMATION


_Communications Earth & Environment_ thanks Ignacio Gianelli, Eva Papaioannou and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary


Handling Editors: Regina Rodrigues and Clare Davis. Peer reviewer reports are available. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PUBLISHER’S NOTE Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional


claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION DESCRIPTION OF ADDITIONAL SUPPLEMENTARY FILES SUPPLEMENTARY DATA 2 SUPPLEMENTARY


DATA 3 SUPPLEMENTARY DATA 4 SUPPLEMENTARY DATA 5 SUPPLEMENTARY DATA 1 PEER REVIEW FILE RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS OPEN ACCESS This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0


International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the


source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative


Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by


statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit


http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Ilosvay, X.É.E., Molinos, J.G. & Ojea, E. Stronger adaptive response among


small-scale fishers experiencing greater climate change hazard exposure. _Commun Earth Environ_ 3, 246 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00577-5 Download citation * Received: 24


February 2022 * Accepted: 07 October 2022 * Published: 20 October 2022 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00577-5 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be


able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing


initiative