Exploring climate change trends in major river basins and its impact on the riverine ecology, fish catch and fisheries of the Peninsular region of India: Issues and a brief overview

Abstract Riverine fisheries will have a knock-on effect due to the changes in water flow and increased irrigation agriculture sector cope with climate change impact. The present study showed very high perception existing fishing community about observed last 10 years. About 95% of fishermen understand temperature sea levels are changing, whereas 91% responded that rainfall is changing salinity also increasing 86% think extreme affecting productivity. Moreover, though monsoon period shorter than non-monsoon period, 62.3% total fish catch River Cauvery takes place during monsoon. variations can enormously impact inland fisheries, especially riverine resources, their productivity sustainability. With this view, it was attempted to: (i) investigate trends major river basins Peninsular region India over decades, (ii) key drivers its implication on catch, biodiversity, (iii) analyse (iv) suggest appropriate strategies like development climate-smart villages waterbodies for livelihood sustainable utilization invaluable biological resources.