A healthy catch

Seafood is integral to the wellbeing of many communities around the world, with consumer demand for fish set to double by 2050, due to growing affluence and evolving tastes.¹ At the same time, climate change is transforming ocean ecosystems, with rising sea levels, acidification, increased water temperatures and extreme weather events reducing stocks and spreading disease.  

The Blue Economy is an important part of the fight against global warming, something acknowledged at the recent COP26 Glasgow Climate Pact.² UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14³ calls for action on life below water, and we are currently in the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.⁴

Aquaculture and wild-capture fishery businesses need to know how climate change will affect their future prospects – but to date the blue economy as a whole lacks reliable insights. The Aotearoa Circle (a public-private partnership dedicated to restoring natural capital) sought to address this gap with the seafood sector through climate-scenario analysis, and contracted KPMG New Zealand to facilitate the work.

As the first study of its kind globally⁵, this provides a roadmap for future action, with the various participants committing to action to address critical risks and opportunities identified in the scenarios.

Findings from the Circle’s report have wider use beyond New Zealand for other, similar global marine sectors, and will likely prove invaluable to governments and other organizations taking action to protect against and prevent damage to oceans. Encouraged by this initiative, the New Zealand External Reporting Board (XRB) is now promoting shared climate scenarios and collaborative responses by other sectors.

Given the ramifications for the ocean – as demonstrated in the assessment – it’s clear that large-scale collaboration is essential to tackle the challenge, including research bodies, government, private companies, NGOs and indigenous peoples. By undertaking and publishing the report, the Circle has taken an important first step in bringing key actors to the table and discussing pragmatic options.

All the parties involved in or impacted by the seafood industry must be fully committed to a future where the ocean provides a healthy, sustainable source of food to humans. This calls for the following:  

• Bold leadership: sharing a clear common purpose and taking a collective responsibility for change
• Resilient prosperity: adapting to disruptive market changes and stewarding marine ecosystems
• Practical knowledge: a knowledge system that supports culture and history, and provides the evidence for effective decision-making about climate-related risks and opportunities
• Values-based governance: legislative, regulatory and resource management systems that reflect these principles and respond quickly and boldly to the challenges that climate change poses to the marine environment and seafood community

The strategy’s aim is to enhance the resilience and adaptive capacity of Aotearoa’s (New Zealand) seafood system so that future generations can enjoy a thriving marine environment, blue economy, and seafood community.

KPMG in New Zealand designed a climate-related financial risk assessment and disclosure methodology which combined the insights of Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB), the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and the principles and practices of ISO 14090. The resulting Marine Scenarios Report (2020) and the Seafood Sector Adaptation Strategy (2021) are publicly available.⁶

While this study and adaptation developed are specific to New Zealand, the learnings are applicable to the sector globally. New Zealand is an ideal case study due to the country’s high economic reliance on its fishing industry, where any impacts have a ripple effect across society.