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Small-scale fisheries face similar challenges and constraints, including marginalization, spatial competition, unequal power relations, limited participation in decision-making processes, and climate stressors. We compare the vulnerability of small-scale fishing communities under pressure from climate change in the southern Cape in South Africa and the South Brazil Bight in Brazil using a standardized vulnerability framework to identify the differences and/or similarities between the fishing communities in both countries. In Brazil, high dependence on fishing and attachment to place increased the vulnerability of the fishers; in contrast, in South Africa strong dependence on markets to buy food threatened food security of the fishers. These findings provide noteworthy insights into the regional vulnerability of fishing communities in both countries; additionally, the results support the development of local climate change mitigation plans and provide examples for similar communities that are likely to experience climate stressors in other regional locations.