Climate change impacts fish communities globally, causing shifts in distribution and biodiversity, posing challenges for fisheries. The Mediterranean Sea, warming three times faster than the global average, is ideal for studying the intersectional effects of climate impacts and coastal ecosystem protection. MPAs are implemented to safeguard ecosystems and promote climate adaptations, such management measures are scarce and protection often underperforms. In the Balearic Islands and Catalonia, small-scale fisheries (SSF) are economically and culturally significant, but how management measures and climate change are affecting fish communities and fisheries landings is still not well understood, impairing the capacity to determine best management strategies. This study evaluates effects of climate change and MPA management on SSF resources in the Spanish Western Mediterranean. Using annual sea surface temperature (SST) means and protection metrics to analyze changes in overall catch diversity and landings of economically important species. Our findings indicate significant climate-driven changes in landings– most notably tropicalization benefitting species– and community metrics, protection levels, duration and fishing pressure. Long-term SSF landings effectively fill data gaps, particularly for understanding climate change impacts and the necessity of fisheries regulations. This study supports fisheries and MPAs in preparing for climate change's socio-ecological effects, promoting adaptive management strategies.
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