Title: Bluefish: potential impacts of climate change on coastal communities - Literature review and scientific report

Client: The Marine Institute

Year: 2020

Service area(s): Appraisal and Evaluation

Country/Region: UK/Ireland

eftec team: Ian Dickie, Jake Kuyer, Rob Daniel, Natalya Kharadi

About the project

eftec, in collaboration with long time partners ABPmer and Countryscape, led an evidence review and analysis of ecosystem services provided by marine ecosystems in the Irish and Celtic Seas for the Marine Institute as part of the Bluefish Project. The key ecosystem services include seaweed aquaculture; fish and shellfish aquaculture; wild seaweed harvesting; wild capture fisheries and shellfisheries; non-mineral substances (offshore wind, wave and tidal energy); regulation of flows; climate regulation and carbon sequestration; and recreation and tourism.

We also projected how the provision and value of ecosystem services would be affected over time under plausible scenarios for environmental management in the context of climate change.

The BlueFish Project is an Ireland Wales Territorial Co-operation Operation for the Irish and Celtic Sea, focusing on cross border collaboration, climate change and community engagement. It is part-funded by the European Regional Development fund through the Ireland Wales Co-operation Programme 2014 – 2020.

Visual representation of complex concepts and scenarios to stakeholders, policy makers and to the wider community is key for the Marine Institute, and by linking art and science the project aimed to demystify the potential economic impacts of climate change on coastal communities.

Client feedback:

"In undertaking this commission as a component of the BlueFish Project (Ireland-Wales Programme), The Marine Institute were very pleased with the level of communication and attention to detail provided by eftec consortium and the working dynamic of the team lead to a suite of high-quality outputs." - Marine Institute, 2020