COVID-19 pandemic impacts on global inland fisheries
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to environmental recovery in some ecosystems from a global “anthropause,” yet such evidence for natural resources with extraction or production value (e.g., fisheries) is limited. This brief report provides a data-driven global snapshot of expert-perceived impacts of COVID-19 on inland fisheries. We distributed an online survey assessing perceptions of inland fishery pressures in June and July 2020 to basin-level inland fishery experts (i.e., identified by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations across the global North and South); 437 respondents from 79 countries addressed 93 unique hydrological basins, accounting for 82.1% of global inland fish catch. Based on the responses analyzed against extrinsic fish catch and human development index data, pandemic impacts on inland fisheries 1) add gradation to the largely positive environmental narrative of the global pandemic and 2) identify that basins of higher provisioning value are perceived to experience greater fishery pressures but may have limited compensatory capacity to mitigate COVID-19 impacts along with negative pressures already present.
Citation Information
Publication Year | 2020 |
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Title | COVID-19 pandemic impacts on global inland fisheries |
DOI | 10.1073/pnas.2014016117 |
Authors | Gretchen L. Stokes, Abigail Lynch, Benjamin S. Lowe, Simon Funge-Smith, John Valbo-Jorgensen, Samuel J. Smidt |
Publication Type | Article |
Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
Series Title | PNAS |
Index ID | 70216876 |
Record Source | USGS Publications Warehouse |
USGS Organization | National Climate Adaptation Science Center |