Modeling the impacts of climate change on global tuna fisheries to support development and implementation of climate adaptive EAFM plans

The current paper summarizes (1) the work completed in 2018 as part of the FAO-implemented Common Oceans I Program, which focused on modeling the impacts of climate change on the productivity and distribution of tuna fisheries in the Pacific Ocean, and (2) the new work that is being proposed under the second phase of the Common Oceans Program. The primary objectives of the newly proposed work are to improve our current understanding of climate change impacts on global tuna resources by RFMOs and member states, and to increase global, regional and national commitment to development and implementation of climate adaptive EAFM plans for tuna fisheries. With the submission of this paper, we hope to receive feedback from IOTC on how best to proceed with projecting Climate Change impacts on global tuna fisheries using methods similar to those developed in the Pacific. We specifically wish to integrate the proposed activities into the normal scientific committee peer review processes at IOTC with the eventual aim of advising the Commission on potential actions needed to mitigate against adverse impacts.