Fish Farmers’ Perception of Climate change impact on fish production in Delta State, Nigeria

Abstract

Fish farming has great potential for mitigating the decreasing landings from capture fisheries arising from climate change, pollution, overexploitation and use of obnoxious fishing methods. There is strong evidence that the fisheries sub-sector of agriculture is experiencing major challenges and some of these challenges are directly linked to climate change. Therefore, the present study attempts to investigate fish farmers’ perception of climate change impact on fish production in Delta State. Respondents in the area perceived climate change factors
to include variability of temperature, air humidity and total rainfall. The study further revealed that respondents perceived low yield from fish culture to be a consequence of the negative impact of climate change. This study concluded that there’s a need for the active involvement of stakeholders in developing policies relating to climate change mitigation and beneficial response strategies to global warming.

Keywords: Climate change, fish farming, impact and perception.