Fisheries play a crucial role in Nigeria’s socio-economic landscape, supporting the livelihoods of over 150 million Nigerians. However, fishing activities is being altered among which is climate change. Climate change has been threatening fishing activities through environmental event, disproportionately impacting vulnerable fisher folks, with gender inequalities playing a crucial role in understanding these distributive impacts. The study addresses the vulnerability of fisher folks in coastal and freshwater fishing communities Lagos State, Nigeria,
Primary data was collected through structured questionnaires from fisherfolks using Multi-stage (three stage) sampling technique. Simple random technique was used to select 240 fisher folks from the population of fishermen in both coastal and freshwater fishing communities. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, percentage, standard deviation), Harvard analytical framework and Inferential statistics (T- test)
Results from socio-economic reveal that 38.79% and 41.93% of the fisherfolks were under 46 years from coastal and freshwater area respectively. With varying educational levels, coastal areas showed 56.90% (53.49% male :66.67% female) with no formal education, while in the in freshwater regions 35.48% (42.53% male: 18.91% female) with senior secondary education. The household size of 6-12 members was observed in both communities with over 10 years of fishing experience. Vulnerability varied across different indices, socio-demographic profile (SDP), freshwater areas are more vulnerable (SDP coastal regions 0.41; SDP fresh water 0.58), for Livelihood strategies, coastal regions scored higher (0.65) than freshwater region (0.54), social networks indicators were greater for coastal (0.75) than freshwater region (0.65), health vulnerability score for fresh water areas (0.77) was higher than coastal regions (0.72), the overall food vulnerability score for fresh water households (0.33) was greater than coastal regions households (0.30). For water, Coastal had (0.44) while freshwater had (0.16), for natural disasters, coastal area (0.73) are more than those in the freshwater areas (0.56). Overall, coastal regions had a higher livelihood vulnerability index (LVI) than freshwater regions (0.571 versus 0.513).
The study observed that both fishing environments are experiencing substantial climate impacts, with coastal regions experiencing slightly more pronounced effects. Coping and adaptation strategies were similar in both regions, the study therefore calls for targeted interventions that recognize gender-specific experiences, enhance community resilience and provide comprehensive support mechanisms.