Work

Restoration and management of an Indigenous aquaculture system helps mitigate climate change impacts to estuarine fisheries

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: In Hawaiʻi, loko iʻa (Indigenous aquaculture systems) historically produced abundant seafood. The objective of this study was to assess how climate change may affect loko iʻa productivity, as well as how nutrient flow restoration and restocking may mitigate some of these effects. We found that although rising water temperature may lead to declines in fish density, loko iʻa fish populations were more resilient to rising water temperatures than those in the surrounding estuary. Notably, the combined benefits of fisheries effort regulations, nutrient flow restoration, and restocking were found to offset some of the potentially negative effects of warming on fish populations and substantially increase short- and long-term estuarine and loko iʻa fish density. However, long-term population trends were still primarily dictated by emissions scenarios and their associated temperature projections. In the face of rising water temperatures, biocultural restoration may be especially important for enhancing fish populations and increasing social–ecological resilience.

Source: npj Ocean Sustainability

DOI: 10.1038/s44183-025-00152-3