SLU researchers investigate how climate affects access to nutritious aquatic foods in vulnerable regions

Marine resources under pressure

Fish and shellfish contain vitamins, minerals and trace elements that are vital for human health. However, climate change can affect the distribution and availability of species, with serious consequences for people who are highly dependent on these marine resources. People in coastal areas and small island nations, especially in low- and middle-income countries, are particularly sensitive to changes in the availability of nutrients from aquatic foods, as alternative sources do not always exist.

Coastal areas and small island nations in focus

The research team will be working with data from Tanzania, the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste. By modelling how different climate scenarios affect marine food webs, and thus access to nutrients, the researchers hope to predict changes and identify particularly vulnerable areas in need for management, as well as contribute to strategies to strengthen local communities in the face of future challenges. 

– Our study areas are located in regions where the largest share of protein intake comes from fish and shellfish. Therefore, it is particularly important to both understand and map how the availability of marine resources, and their nutrient content, is changing with global warming in order to then manage them in the best way, not only today, but also for future generations, says Charlotte Berkström, a researcher at the Department of Aquatic Resources at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the leader of the project.

Maps will help the scientists visualize the marine food web

The researchers will identify changes in nutrient availability using data already collected on fish, environmental variables and marine food webs. They will then model how nutrient availability is affected by different climate scenarios. The researchers will do this using newly developed statistical methods. The results will then be visualized in the form of different layers in a map where the layers show nutrients in fishing waters and are based on species-specific distribution patterns of fish.

– The layers in the maps will show, among other things, the situation we have today in the specific fishing waters, but also how we can expect the marine food landscape to change over the next 30 years, says Charlotte.