Fenton et al., 2007:

"The study by Fenton and Beeden of stakeholder beliefs about climate change in the GBR catchment is the only specific social assessment of climate change issues in the GBR. It identified a number of core issues associated with climate change in the GBR catchment.

Several fishers indicated that there was little preparedness amongst the commercial fishing industry and recreational fishing sector to respond to the impacts of climate change. This was because they had been preoccupied with other changes occurring in their industry or sector, including the trawl and reef line plan and the representative areas program. As shown in the following quotation, it could be argued that many in the commercial and recreational fisheries sectors, as a consequence of recent changes, have limited resources and adaptive capacity to respond to climate change issues, signalling a vulnerability to climate change.

‘I have to say [it] is not top priority on our radar. There are far more important threats to our industry,our leisure and our recreation than climate change.’

In contrast, several commercial and recreational fishers believed they would adapt to the impacts of climate change because through the recent changes to their industry and sector, they had become more resilient by developing a greater capacity to adapt and respond to future changes. While it was indicated that the live fish industry may have to change its methods for the storage of live fish given temperature increases, that there may be an increase in costs associated with cooling and refrigeration, and that the use of equipment to measure sea temperature may be more common, the most frequent response amongst both commercial and recreational fishers was that they would adapt their fishing patterns and methods to whatever the prevailing conditions were at the time. However, there was no indication from participants that the commercial and recreational fishing sectors were in any way preparing for the impacts of climate change."