Consequences of climate change for some segments of the Norwegian Fishing Fleet

This paper identifies the possible effects of climate change on fish stocks important for the Norwegian fishing fleet along with information on the Norwegian harvest pattern in the past can tell us something about the consequences of a changing climate for the fishing fleet. A survey the Directorate of Fisheries’s landings and settlement register are performed on a subsample of the Norwegian fishing fleet consisting of factory trawlers, other trawlers, large conventional fishing vessels and small inshore fishing vessels.The relative importance fish stocks and harvest areas are described for the period 2000-2006. We combine the information retrieved in the previous sections and try to say something about the fishing fleet’s ability to cope with change. The trawlers and the large conventional vessels specialize in targeting the large fish stocks, such as cod saithe and haddock, and as the stocks are expected to gain from higher ocean temperatures and expand their area of distribution, the ocean going vessels will also benefit from this. The inshore fishing fleet also target the same fish stocks, but are more limited in their ability to take advantage of expansions off shore. However, the coastal fishing fleet is a very diverse group, harvesting a number of alternative species living in different coastal areas and can be expected to take advantage of new species entering the ecosystem following a warmer climate.