3.2. Vulnerabilities of tuna and sardine sectors Fifty local fishermen were interviewed at selected landing sites, of which 25 were from General Santos and 25 were from
Zamboanga City. The vulnerability indices for tuna in General Santos and sardines in Zamboanga City indicate medium overall vulnerability (Table 6 and Fig. 3). Medium sensitivity and low adaptive capacity values (Table 6) indicate that the tuna and sardine resources in General Santos and Zamboanga City are vulnerable to climate change. This finding suggests that the effects of climate change vary in different areas and depend on the nature and level of resource dependency of the community. Thus, specific
and more localized management measures or adaptive strategies should be developed for each area. The sardine sector in Zamboanga City is more vulnerable to climate change than the tuna sector in General Santos because of the high exposure of the fishing grounds to localized typhoons, which makes fishing difficult or even prohibits fishing operations. Hence, policy makers and program implementers should invest more on programs
(e.g., livelihood and climate change awareness) that reduce the ependence of sardine fishers and other stakeholders in the sardine sector.