Impacts of climate change on artisanal fisheries in Somalia: a narrative review
摘要
Climate change is increasingly reshaping marine ecosystems and artisanal fisheries in Somalia through rising sea surface temperatures, altered monsoon variability, marine heatwaves, ocean deoxygenation, and changing upwelling dynamics. This narrative review synthesizes peer-reviewed literature published between 2015 and 2025 to examine the ecological, fisheries, socio-economic, adaptation, and governance dimensions of climate change impacts on Somali artisanal fisheries within the broader Western Indian Ocean (WIO) context. The review highlights strong eco-regional contrasts across the Gulf of Aden, the northern Somali upwelling systems, and the southern coast, resulting in spatially variable exposure of fisheries and coastal communities to climate-related stressors. Evidence indicates that warming, habitat degradation, changing productivity, and shifting species distributions are likely to alter fish availability, seasonal fishing patterns, and fisheries productivity, particularly for small pelagic and reef-associated species important to artisanal livelihoods. Climate-related pressures further interact with foreign and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, weak governance, fragmented institutions, and limited fisheries monitoring, thereby intensifying livelihood insecurity, food vulnerability, gendered socio-economic impacts, and maladaptive coping responses in coastal communities. Although recent catch reconstructions and emerging socio-economic studies provide important insights into fisheries exploitation, vulnerability, and adaptation challenges, major gaps persist in long-term fisheries monitoring, climate–fisheries modeling, and household-level socio-economic research. Strengthening climate-informed governance, participatory monitoring, ecosystem-based management, and inclusive Blue Economy policies will be essential for building resilient and equitable artisanal fisheries systems in Somalia.