Effect of Temperature and Rainfall as a Component of Climate Change on Fish And Shrimp Catch in Pakistan

摘要

: The impact of temperature and rainfall was analyzed on the catch of estuarine fish and shrimp species, including barramundi, mullet, bombay duck, silver whiting, sardinella, anchovy, white shrimp and grey shrimp during the period 1981 to 2006. On the whole there was no significant correlation found between the catch of various fish and shrimp species and temperature or rainfall. However, a significant negative correlation between average annual temperature and barramundi catch and between temperature and white shrimp catch was observed. Similarly a significant positive correlation between temperature and mullet catch and between rainfall and silver whiting catch was found. There is also a decrease in total amount of fish caught, decreasing from 474,665 metric tons in 1999 to 349,421 metric tons in 2006. Most recent statistics show that in 2009, the fish catch was around 338,773 tons while in 2008 it was 344,684 tons, showing a decline of 5,911 tons in just over a one-year period. Changes in temperature and rainfall altered the catch of some fishes as mentioned above but the other factors, such as over-fishing, pollution and the reduction in freshwater flow may have influenced the fish and shrimp catch. Therefore proper fisheries management and monitoring is required to meet the challenges of global climatic changes as well as other environmental issues. Keywords: estuaries, fish, shrimp, temperature, rainfall, Pakistan View PDFTable of Contents