While Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) face many challenges in their pursuit of sustainable resource development, climate change is among the most pressing and least addressed. Research has identified a host of expected or ongoing physical, biological, ecological, and social impacts of climate change on the marine environment, creating a strong climate change adaptation imperative for RFMOs. Through a case study of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), we describe two serious limitations of current RFMO climate change adaptation strategies: (1) a weakened efficacy of resource management and conservation policies caused by viewing climate change as a general climate stressor rather than a unique environmental challenge, and (2) a reliance on incremental policy reform, problematic because it may not enable a pace or scale of policy change proportional to the sustainable development challenges created by a rapidly changing ocean. We discuss the benefits and drawbacks of incrementalism and outline potential solutions to the environmental and structural challenges facing the IATTC and other RFMOs, including the concept of adaptation pathways.

中文翻译：

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了解当前 RFMO 气候变化适应战略的局限性：以 IATTC 和东太平洋为例

虽然区域渔业管理组织 (RFMO) 在追求可持续资源开发方面面临许多挑战，但气候变化是最紧迫和最少解决的问题之一。研究已经确定了气候变化对海洋环境的一系列预期或持续的物理、生物、生态和社会影响，为区域渔业管理组织创造了强大的气候变化适应必要性。通过美洲热带金枪鱼委员会 (IATTC) 的案例研究，我们描述了当前 RFMO 气候变化适应战略的两个严重局限性：(1) 将气候变化视为一般气候导致资源管理和保护政策效力减弱压力源而不是独特的环境挑战，以及 (2) 依赖渐进式政策改革，问题在于，它可能无法实现与快速变化的海洋所带来的可持续发展挑战相称的政策变化速度或规模。我们讨论了渐进主义的利弊，并概述了 IATTC 和其他 RFMO 面临的环境和结构挑战的潜在解决方案，包括适应途径的概念。