GCRI · Oceans and Coasts
Fisheries and livelihoods
Fisheries and aquaculture feed billions of people and employ millions, many in small-scale fisheries in coastal and island communities. Overfishing, illegal fishing, climate-driven shifts in stocks and habitat loss threaten both food and livelihoods. This page sets out how fish stocks and fishing communities respond to pressure, how stock status and catch are measured, and what evidence serves the fisheries managers and communities involved.
Fisheries and livelihoods on the record.
Fisheries and livelihoods: how the risk develops.
Fish stocks, food security and local economies. The dossier below sets out how the risk develops, what is measured, where the data come from, how it is modelled and who decides.
Fishing beyond sustainable levels
When catches exceed what a stock can replace, biomass declines and future catches fall. Subsidies and open access can sustain overfishing after it stops being profitable.
Stocks move with warming
Fish shift toward cooler water and higher latitudes. Fisheries lose stocks they managed, gain new ones, and agreements between countries no longer match where fish are.
Illegal and unreported fishing
Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing undermines management, depletes stocks and takes catch from legitimate and small-scale fishers.
Small-scale fishers carry the risk
Small-scale fishers often lack insurance, savings and alternatives. Stock declines, storms and market shocks hit their income and food security first.
Ocean state in Pacific Island states.
Marine heat, chlorophyll and sea temperature over Pacific Island states, from NASA GIBS. Each layer carries its own date.
The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.
Layers 3
Ocean state, for this page
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed
- Source
- GHRSST MUR25 (NASA JPL PO.DAAC)
- Provider
- NASA JPL PO.DAAC
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite analysis
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-12
- Resolution
- about 2 km grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite analysis of how far sea temperature departs from its usual value for the date shown; a marine heat indicator, not a coral bleaching alert.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed (clouds and sun glint leave gaps)
- Source
- MODIS Aqua ocean colour (NASA OB.DAAC)
- Provider
- NASA OB.DAAC
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite retrieval; clouds and sun glint leave gaps
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-13
- Resolution
- about 1 km grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite estimate of chlorophyll-a near the sea surface on the day shown, an indicator of plankton and ocean productivity; not a measure of fish stocks or harmful blooms.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed
- Source
- GHRSST MUR (NASA JPL PO.DAAC)
- Provider
- NASA JPL PO.DAAC
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite analysis
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-12
- Resolution
- about 1 km grid
- Uncertainty
- Gap-filled satellite analysis of sea surface temperature for the date shown; not a reef or species condition report.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed
- Source
- VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance (NASA LANCE)
- Provider
- NASA LANCE
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite image
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-14
- Resolution
- about 250 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite image. Satellite or model raster as the provider publishes it. Clouds, swath gaps and retrieval error leave gaps and noise; values are indicators, not measurements at a place.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Modelled (latest year GIBS publishes)
- Source
- MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1) (NASA LP DAAC)
- Provider
- NASA LP DAAC
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- yearly; Satellite classification; latest year GIBS publishes
- Newest at build
- 2024-01-01
- Resolution
- about 500 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite land cover classes for the year shown, including croplands; a classification with known errors, not a farm register.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed (clouds leave gaps)
- Source
- MODIS Terra EVI (NASA LANCE)
- Provider
- NASA LANCE
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite index; clouds leave gaps
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-13
- Resolution
- about 250 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite vegetation index for the 8 days to the date shown, a habitat condition indicator; not a measure of species or biodiversity.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
Keyboard, with the map focused
Hold Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll to zoom
Latest available
NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth
Loading the latest NASA imagery.
Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.
Ocean state, framed on Pacific Island states.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.
Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONET · NASA PACE OCI · NASA JPL OPERA DIST-ALERTSources and licences
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- GHRSST Level 4 MUR analyses, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; distributed by the NASA Physical Oceanography DAAC (PO.DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- MODIS Aqua ocean colour, NASA Ocean Biology Processing Group; distributed by the NASA Ocean Biology DAAC (OB.DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- MODIS land products (vegetation indices, gross primary production, land cover), NASA LP DAAC and LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
- Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). ODbL
- Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
- Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
- Live: NASA EONET Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
- Observed (EO): NASA PACE OCI. We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- Observed (EO): NASA JPL OPERA DIST-ALERT (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026). We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Optional layers (10 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.
Layers and dates
- Sea surface temperature anomaly: GHRSST MUR25, NASA JPL PO.DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
- Ocean chlorophyll-a concentration: MODIS Aqua ocean colour, NASA OB.DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
- Sea surface temperature: GHRSST MUR, NASA JPL PO.DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
- True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
- Land cover type (IGBP), yearly: MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1), NASA LP DAAC · 2024
- Enhanced vegetation index, rolling 8 days: MODIS Terra EVI, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
Fisheries link the ocean to food, income and health.
- FoodCouplingFish supply important nutrients, especially in coastal and island states.What to watchFish consumption by income group
- HealthCouplingSmall-scale fishers are among the poorest coastal workers.What to watchIncome and safety at sea
- BiodiversityCouplingOverfishing and warming shift stocks.What to watchStock status
Fisheries evidence is designed for the Country Systems Risk and Resilience series. FAO’s State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2024 is the global reference; illegal fishing is addressed by the Port State Measures Agreement, and harmful subsidies by the WTO agreement adopted in 2022.
- Small-scale catch data.
- Fisher livelihood surveys.
Fisheries and marine watch.
The screen a team would use to follow this subject: its measures, states and decisions. Names are examples and values are illustrative.
Fisheries and marine watch
Fisheries and livelihoods · Fishing grounds 3 · Season 1
- Biomass vs reference point0.7ratioWatch
- Marine heatwave days59this yearAlert
- Fleet effort90index
Sea surface temperature anomaly
Stock status
| Small pelagic | 0.8 | 1.4 | Overfishing |
| Reef fish | 0.6 | 1.5 | Overfished |
| Tuna-like | 1.2 | 1.0 | Sustainable |
What is measured, and how well.
Each indicator carries its unit, its cadence, the kind of source behind it and the evidence label a value would carry. No values are shown: a programme supplies them under its own authority.
| Indicator | Unit | Cadence | Source type | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels | percent of assessed stocks | per assessment | SDG indicator 14.4.1 | Published statistics |
| Capture fisheries production | tonnes | annual | National catch reporting to FAO | REPORTED |
| Aquaculture production | tonnes | annual | National reporting to FAO | REPORTED |
| Fishing effort | fishing hours by area | daily | Satellite vessel tracking | ESTIMATED |
| People employed in fisheries and aquaculture | count | annual | FAO employment statistics | REPORTED |
| Implementation of instruments against IUU fishing | score | per reporting cycle | SDG indicator 14.6.1 | Published statistics |
Model fisheries and livelihoods as a system. Run the cascade.
Assembled from the Nexus Standards area profile Oceans and coasts risk standards: the hazards it names, the systems and sectors that carry the loss, the controls that dampen it and the data that observe it. Choose the components, pick an initiating hazard and step through the cascade. The Map view places the run on an example geography with open data. Every coupling weight is a stated assumption you can change. A teaching model, not a forecast, an assessment or a certification. To model a place of your own choosing, open the full System Builder.
Hazards
- Sea-level rise
- Storm surge
- Coastal erosion
- Heatwave
- Ocean acidification
- Harmful algal bloom
- Extreme fire weather (set off downstream)
- Wildfire (set off downstream)
- Heat-driven grid stress (set off downstream)
- Agricultural drought (set off downstream)
- Flash drought (set off downstream)
- Snow drought (set off downstream)
- Ground-level ozone episode (set off downstream)
- Meteorological drought (set off downstream)
- River flood (set off downstream)
- Coastal flood (set off downstream)
- Estuary flood (set off downstream)
- Mass displacement (set off downstream)
Systems and couplings
- Oceans and coasts risk standards
- Supply chain and trade risk Cascade
- Food and agriculture risk standards Cascade
- Climate risk standards Common driver and feedback
- Cities and urban systems risk standards Exposure
Controls
NS-0Constitution and principlesNS-1The UNI and the artefact catalogue (grammar v0.2: domain, sector, region and environment segments)NS-3Risk record UNIs (grammar, legacy crosswalk, allocation authority)NS-3bDataset and product metadata profile (STAC, DCAT, PROV-O)NS-5Figure, map and visualisation standard (with the UI/UX kit)NS-9Contextual UNIs (deployments, instances, programme instances)NS-11Verification and monitoring (evidence, attestations, zero-trust conformance observation)NRS-X3Oceans and coasts riskNRS-H11Hazard family: Coastal and sea-level hazards (NHS-1 water.coastal)NRS-H79Hazard family: Mental health crises (NHS-1 health.mental)NRS-H12Hazard family: Ocean-state extremes (NHS-1 water.ocean-state)NRS-H67Hazard family: Ocean circulation and marine tipping (NHS-1 planet.ocean-tipping)NRS-K18Domain pack profile: Oceans coastal (DOMAIN-018)
Observation
- Copernicus Marine Service ocean products (listed for reference)
- Coral Reef Watch daily 5 km heat stress products (listed for reference)
- PSMSL tide gauge mean sea level records (listed for reference)
- GEBCO global bathymetric grid (listed for reference)
- Argo float profiles (listed for reference)
- Average marine acidity (pH) measured at agreed suite of representative sampling stations
- Index of coastal eutrophication and floating plastic debris density
- Direct economic loss attributed to disasters in relation to GDP, including damage to critical infrastructure
Example geography
- Pacific Island states: 150 hexagonal cells
- Night lights tonight, outages (VIIRS Day/Night Band), NASA GIBS
- Surface water through cloud, 30 m (OPERA DSWx-S1 radar), NASA GIBS
- Rain rate, last half hour (IMERG), NASA GIBS
- Surface air temperature, daytime (AIRS), NASA GIBS
Where the evidence comes from.
Named public datasets and institutional records, each with its licence class. Sources by agreement are used only under their terms and never republished.
| Source | What it gives | Licence class |
|---|---|---|
| FAO FishStat and the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture | Global catch, aquaculture, trade, employment and stock status | Open, FAO terms (to check) |
| Global Fishing Watch | Fishing activity estimated from vessel tracking | Open, licence per dataset (CC BY-SA or non-commercial, to check) |
| Sea Around Us | Reconstructed catches including unreported catch | Open, licence to check |
| RAM Legacy Stock Assessment Database | Compiled stock assessment results | Open, licence to check |
| Regional fisheries management organisation reports | Stock assessments and management measures | Public records, terms per organisation |
How fisheries and livelihoods is modelled, measured and tested.
The model, its assumptions, its data and its uncertainty, in the form a scientist or engineer would check. Structures follow published methods. The values drawn are illustrative, not findings.
Earth observation chain
How a satellite or sensor record becomes evidence on fisheries and livelihoods, and where each step adds uncertainty.
- 01 · Acquireorbit, sensor and revisitUncertainty: gaps from cloud and orbit
- 02 · Calibrateradiometric and geometricUncertainty: sensor drift
- 03 · Correctatmosphere and terrainUncertainty: aerosol and slope assumptions
- 04 · Retrieve or classifythe variable or the classUncertainty: model and training error
- 05 · Validateagainst ground truthUncertainty: sample design and size
- 06 · Publishwith error bars and lineageUncertainty: stated, never hidden
Who decides, and what the evidence serves.
Oceans and Coasts prepares evidence. The decisions below are taken by the authorities named, under their own rules, and never by the platform.
| Who decides | The question | Evidence this page serves |
|---|---|---|
| Fisheries ministries and management bodies | What catch limits and measures to set | Stock status; effort maps |
| Regional fisheries management organisations | How to allocate shifting stocks between members | Stock shift analyses |
| Social protection and development agencies | How to support fishing communities through shocks | Livelihood profiles |
| Port and enforcement authorities | Where to focus inspection against illegal fishing | Vessel tracking evidence |
Outputs this topic produces
- Stock status summaries with assessment dates and methods
- Fishing effort maps from vessel tracking
- Climate-driven stock shift analyses
- Livelihood vulnerability profiles for fishing communities
The questions experts ask.
- What is the status of a stock relative to levels that support sustainable yields?
- How is warming shifting where species are found and how productive they are?
- Who depends on a fishery for food and income, and what alternatives do they have?
- How do shocks such as heatwaves, harmful algal blooms or market closures affect catch and earnings?
- Which management measures are robust to the uncertainty in stock assessments?
Stocks, ecosystems and people.
Stock size reflects recruitment, growth, natural mortality and fishing mortality. Overfishing reduces stocks below the level that would produce the highest sustainable yield and can make them more sensitive to environmental variability. Climate change acts by shifting species distributions poleward and deeper, changing primary productivity, and altering the timing of spawning and migration. Stocks that cross national boundaries create allocation disputes when they move.
Livelihood effects depend on dependence and adaptability. Small-scale fishers with limited gear and access cannot follow stocks far, and fishing communities often have few other sources of income. Aquaculture can supplement supply but brings its own risks from disease, pollution and feed sourcing. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing undermines both stocks and the data used to assess them.
Markets add another channel. Prices, export demand and trade restrictions can change fishing pressure as much as ecological conditions do, and food security depends on whether local consumers keep access to affordable fish.
Assessment and its uncertainty.
Population models
Catch, effort and survey data feed models of stock size and fishing mortality; data-poor stocks rely on simpler indicators.
Species-distribution models
Models link species to ocean conditions to project shifts; they assume relationships hold as conditions change.
Livelihood surveys
Household and market surveys measure dependence and vulnerability; coverage of informal fisheries is often thin.
Limits: many stocks, especially in tropical and small-scale fisheries, lack formal assessments. Under-reported catch biases models, and projections of climate effects carry wide ranges.
How it is studied, and what the methods cannot say.
- 01Ecology and biodiversity scienceReef condition monitoring · Stock assessment inputs · Restoration monitoringApplied here
- 02Ocean and coastal scienceRegional sea-level budgets · Marine heatwave analysis · Wave climate assessmentApplied here
- 03Geospatial information systemsCoastal exposure mapping · Marine spatial planning layers · Fishing effort mappingApplied here
- 04Earth observation and remote sensingOcean colour and blooms · Shoreline change mapping · Coastal habitat mappingApplied here
Where this page’s references lead.
The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.
Questions and answers.
What is an overfished stock?
What is IUU fishing?
Why are fish moving?
Does the platform set or advise on catch limits?
Can aquaculture replace wild fisheries?
How is climate change affecting fisheries?
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