TY - JOUR T1 - Climate-risk to European fisheries and coastal communities JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2020.08.03.234401 SP - 2020.08.03.234401 AU - Mark R. Payne AU - Manja Kudahl AU - Georg H. Engelhard AU - Myron A. Peck AU - John K. Pinnegar Y1 - 2020/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/08/04/2020.08.03.234401.abstract N2 - With the majority of the global human population living in coastal regions, identifying the climate risk that ocean-dependent communities and businesses are exposed to is key to prioritising the finite resources available to support adaptation. Here we apply a climate-risk analysis across the European fisheries sector for the first time to identify the most at-risk fleets and sub-national regions. We combine a trait-based approach with ecological niche models to differentiate climate hazards between populations of fish and use them to assess the relative climate risk for 380 fishing fleets and 105 coastal regions in Europe. Countries in SE Europe and the UK have the highest risks to both their fishing fleets and their communities while, in other countries, the risk-profile is greatest at either the fleet or community level. These results reveal the diversity of challenges posed by climate-change to European fisheries: climate adaptation, therefore, needs to be tailored to each country’s and even each region’s specific situation. Our analysis supports this process by highlighting where adaptation measures are needed and could have the greatest impact.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest. ER -