THE PROJECT

The cumulative effects of climate change and fisheries threaten local biodiversity and fishery resources on an unprecedented scale. As a result, traditional inshore fisheries like that of the western Baltic Sea are suffering from the collapse of fish stocks. Surprisingly, little is known about the vulnerability of the biodiversity of the local fish community to the effects of climate change and the sustainability of the dominant socio-ecological fishing systems for cod and herring. However, this knowledge is necessary for the development of ecosystem-based management and adaptation strategies, which are necessary to protect local biodiversity, but also to protect the well-being of the coastal human population. The main goal of balt_ADAPT is therefore to expand the knowledge base and to develop instruments for ecosystem-based management and adaptation of fisheries in the western Baltic Sea, which support political decision-makers in using fishery resources sustainably under the effects of future climate change. balt_ADAPT combines in a novel and unique way four crucial and interrelated elements for adaptation planning, i.e. the assessment of vulnerability, the assessment of the ecosystem condition, development of alternative management strategies and the creation of narratives of the future development of the socio-ecological system. balt_ADAPT therefore provides important information for better local adaptation planning and a proposal for the protection of biodiversity and the livelihoods of the coasts in Europe.