Fisheries Research 147 (2013) 381–393 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Fisheries Research jo u r n al homep age: www.elsevier.com/locate/fishres A framework for vulnerability assessment of coastal fisheries ecosystems to climate change—Tool for understanding resilience of fisheries (VA–TURF) Samuel S. Mamauag a,b,∗ , Porfirio M. Ali ˜ no a,b , Renmar Jun S. Martinez a,b , Richard N. Muallil a,b,c , Maria Victoria A. Doctor b , Emerlinda C. Dizon d , Rollan C. Geronimo d , Fleurdeliz M. Panga a,b , Reniel B. Cabral a,b,e a Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines b Marine Environment and Resources Foundation, Inc., Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 1101 Philippines c Mindanao State University—Tawi-Tawi College of Technology and Oceanography, 7500 Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, Philippines d Conservation International—Philippines, Teachers Village, Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines e National Institute of Physics, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 23 February 2013 Received in revised form 11 July 2013 Accepted 15 July 2013 Keywords: Vulnerability assessment Coastal fisheries ecosystem Climate change a b s t r a c t Vulnerability assessment (VA) is increasingly developed and utilized in various sectors and fields of soci- ety. VA provides a better understanding of the interactions among system, pressures, and threats, which serves as a basis for targeted adaptation strategies. The framework or tool named tool for understand- ing resilience of fisheries (VA–TURF) was developed to assess the vulnerability of the coastal fisheries ecosystems in the tropics to climate change. VA–TURF has three major components, namely, fisheries, reef ecosystem, and socio-economics. Although each component has intrinsic properties, the three com- ponents are strongly interrelated. Indicators associated to sensitivity, exposure, and adaptive capacity were developed for each component of TURF. The exposure variable used was wave. VA–TURF uses information obtained through rapid assessments except for the reef ecosystem component. The analyt- ical approach for integrating scores is straightforward and devoid of highly sophisticated mathematical methods. The utility of VA–TURF primarily considers the fishers of a coastal community (barangay) as the major stakeholder, thereby facilitating familiarization and community ownership of the tool. VA–TURF was demonstrated in all the coastal barangays of two island municipalities (Lubang and Looc, Occidental Mindoro, Philippines) located along the Verde Island Passage, which has the world’s highest marine shore fish biodiversity. Local stakeholders such as fishers, barangay leaders, residents, and local executive staff of the two municipalities participated in the process of scoring and determining the vulnerability of the sites during a series of workshops. The local-level fisheries vulnerability assessment framework devel- oped encourages community-level actions and provides opportunities for strategic actions and scaling-up of efforts at various governance levels. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Global and regional assessments have been initiated to deter- mine the vulnerability of countries to various impacts of climate change. Recently, the assessment of fisheries vulnerability at the national (country) level has attracted increasing interest (Allison et al., 2009; Hughes et al., 2012). Some studies have also focused on coastal community-level vulnerability assessment (VA) (e.g., Clark et al., 1998; Dolan and Walker, 2006; Cinner et al., 2012). In a study by Allison et al. (2009) on the vulner- ability of 132 national economies to potential climate change ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +632 433 1806; fax: +632 433 1806. E-mail address: samuel.mamauag@gmail.com (S.S. Mamauag). impacts on their capture fisheries, four countries in Asia are among the most vulnerable economies, namely, Yemen, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Cambodia. These countries are least developed, with high poverty levels and high reliance on fish for dietary protein. The assessment of approximately 170 countries for the impacts of extreme weather-related events (i.e., storms, floods, and temper- ature extremes) on lives and associated socio-economic attributes showed that six Asian countries are among the most vulnera- ble countries, specifically, Bangladesh (rank 1), Myanmar (rank 2), Vietnam (rank 5), Philippines (rank 7), Mongolia (rank 9), and Tajik- istan (rank 10) (Harmeling, 2011). These countries are subjected to frequent weather disturbances that exacerbate the potential impacts of climate change on the biophysical, social, and economic attributes of the country. 0165-7836/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2013.07.007