ARCTIC, ANTARCTIC, AND ALPINE RESEARCH © 11 
uncertainty in storminess from regional and global 
models is due to poor historical observational data, 
widespread variations in analytical methods, and the 
difficulty of determining whether changes were exter- 
nally forced or part of natural climate variability 
(Sainsbury et al. 2018; Pinnegar et al. 2020). 
The climate model EC-Earth3 that has been used to 
calculate future wind changes is a state-of-the-art cli- 
mate model. Here, we used a large ensemble of fifty 
different climate simulations for each of the future emis- 
sion scenarios. This data set is thus efficiently able to 
separate the climate change signal from internal varia: 
bility of the wind and is thus well suited to analyze future 
storminess in Icelandic waters. The seemingly strong 
split between wind changes in the north and the south 
of Iceland highlights the regional nature of climate 
impacts. Here it is important to note that this regional 
pattern might differ between different climate models. 
Thus, before deciding on adaptation measures, it is 
necessary to analyze the robustness of the future wind 
changes across several climate models. 
The interview results presented above map a preli- 
minary outline of adaptation strategies for stormier 
weather based on interviews in the Westfjords. 
However, more detailed data are needed to assess the 
adaptation potential for other regions with a different set 
of socioeconomic and environmental factors, and the 
decision-making processes for climate adaptation plan- 
aing must also be clarified. If the climate predictions in 
che models produced for this research become a reality, 
the Westfjords will in fact have fewer windy days, 
whereas communities in the north will experience 
more. This study revealed that though all fishery sectors 
are affected by storms and bad weather events, there are 
large sectoral variations. Small-scale fishers, for instance, 
reported a higher number of lost fishing days due to 
storminess than operators of larger fishing vessels. To 
develop and implement adaptation strategies that take 
different regional impacts and variations between sec- 
tors into account, on-ground research and action on 
local scales is required. For larger boats and larger com- 
panies, the available fishing area is effectively the entirety 
of the national waters of Iceland. However, for small 
boats that are often bound to rural communities 
(Chambers, Einarsson, and Karlsdöttir 2020), local 
storms may have a disproportionate impact. This infor- 
mation is important for fisheries managers, export com- 
panies, and other decision-makers who look at national 
trends in fisheries. Furthermore, future models should 
also address extreme precipitation events. In rural areas, 
snowstorms can also close roadways, sometimes for 
several days in a row, which limits access to the main 
markets by limiting capacity to transport fish products 
:O the capital region of Reykjavik (S. Kristjänsdöttir, 
Westfjords Regional Development Office, pers. Comm, 
May 2021). 
Marine fisheries and aquaculture businesses both rely 
neavily on sea state and weather forecasts (Savo, 
Morton, and Lepofsky 2017; Reid-Musson, Finnis, and 
Neis 2021). People who work in the marine industry in 
he Westfjords adapt to monitoring the weather more 
carefully, utilize the early warning system of the Coast 
Guard, and thus prepare for storms and react to changes 
in the weather in a timely manner. However, measures 
:O mitigate the impact caused by limited weather fore- 
casting need to be developed in advance. A potential 
cooperation and co-production between meteorologists 
and certain fishery sectors has been explored by Reid- 
Musson, Finnis, and Neis (2021) and could, for example, 
ead to a better system that can better serve certain 
'ndustry sectors. This could eventually result in 
improved weather forecasting, which remains especially 
crucial with regard to climate change-induced variabil- 
ity. Local variations regarding weather conditions dur- 
ing which fishing boats can be operated or aquaculture 
pens can be maintained could thus be included in the co- 
managed decision-making process. 
Similarly, better socioeconomic data are needed to 
support climate change adaptation; for example, the 
decision-making processes individual fishers make 
‚egarding weather-related decisions are not well stu- 
died (Sainsbury et al. 2018). Though some aspects that 
‘nfluence fishers’ decisions were noted throughout this 
study, more detailed information on how different sta- 
<eholders in the Icelandic maritime industries rely on 
weather forecasting, and how such information influ- 
ences their decision making, needs to be gathered. 
Crucial knowledge gaps still exist, such as mapping 
fishers’ decisions to remain in the harbor during 
storms, the effect of weather on the spatial distribution 
of fishing activity, the performance of different gear 
and equipment in bad weather, and perceptions of 
economic and physical risk (Sainsbury et al. 2018). 
Additionally, recent adaptation scholarship has 
vointed out that extreme events are often attributed 
:o climate change and other place-based vulnerabilities 
are downplayed (Lahsen and Ribot 2021). To avoid 
disasters due to changing storminess being blamed 
solely on climate change when other factors may be 
involved, it is necessary to gather socioeconomic data 
oO understand vulnerabilities in fishing communities 
around Iceland (Lahsen and Ribot 2021). 
Adaptation strategies 
{n this article, several adaptation strategies for fisheries 
and aquaculture businesses to changing storminess that