review · Environmental Challenges
This narrative review synthesises literature from 2008 to 2026 on how climate change affects marine and freshwater fisheries, with a focus on tropical and African inland systems. It details impacts such as warming, acidification, deoxygenation, and altered hydrology, which disrupt fish physiology, shift marine species distribution poleward, and destroy habitats. The review introduces "climate entrapment" to describe the unique vulnerability of freshwater fisheries, where physical barriers prevent species migration. Under high emissions, tropical fisheries could face up to a 40% reduction in maximum catch potential, disproportionately affecting small-scale fishers and indigenous communities. While adaptation strategies exist, significant knowledge gaps remain regarding their effectiveness in different contexts. The review concludes with recommendations for future research, policy, and practice.
This review highlights critical climate change impacts on aquatic food systems, which are vital for global food security and livelihoods. Understanding these challenges, especially for vulnerable communities and freshwater environments, is crucial for developing effective adaptation strategies and safeguarding future food supplies.
This narrative review identifies critical knowledge gaps and proposes research priorities regarding climate change adaptation in aquatic food systems. The abstract does not indicate a direct commercialisation pathway, but its findings could inform the development of future policies, conservation programmes, or sustainable aquaculture practices.
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Across the world's oceans, lakes, and rivers, climate change is reshaping fisheries and aquaculture systems on which billions of people depend for food and millions rely for their livelihoods. This narrative review summarizes peer-reviewed and selected literature published between 2008 and 2026 on climate impacts, adaptation options, and critical knowledge gaps in marine and freshwater fisheries, with a particular focus on tropical and African inland fisheries. This review shows that warming, acidification, deoxygenation, and altered hydrology are disrupting fish physiology; shifting the distribution of marine species poleward by over 70 km per decade, at rates that vary greatly by taxon, depth, and area; and destroying critical habitats. Although this rapid poleward shift is well documented in open marine environments, it contrasts sharply with landlocked or fragmented freshwater systems, where horizontal migration is physically constrained, a contrast central to the concept of climate entrapment developed in this review. In scenarios characterized by high emissions, tropical fisheries may see a reduction of up to 40% in their maximum catch potential, a statistic relevant to specific tropical Exclusive Economic Zones based on bioclimate-envelope forecasts, which should not be interpreted as a global or universal result. This figure is a model-derived projection under a bioclimate-envelope framework rather than an observed trend, and the realized outcome will depend on future emission pathways. These biophysical changes compound already serious pressures, overfishing, habitat loss, and pollution, and the burden falls heaviest on those least responsible: small-scale fishers, women, and indigenous communities. We introduce the concept of climate entrapment to describe the distinct vulnerability of freshwater fisheries: trapped by fragmented habitats and hydrological barriers, fish stocks cannot migrate to more secure waters as conditions deteriorate. While there are promising adaptation strategies, major gaps remain in understanding what works, for whom, and under what conditions. We conclude with priority recommendations for research, policy, and practice.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.envc.2026.101646
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