PARIS—Climate change will cause key species of fish
to migrate towards the poles, badly depleting many commercial fisheries,
scientists said in a study published on Thursday.
“The impact of climate change on marine biodiversity and fisheries is going
to be huge,” said its lead author, William Cheung, of the School of
Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia, eastern England.
Cheung’s team used a high-powered computer model, based on knowledge of
1,066 species of fish, their habitat and climate change, to predict what might
happen by 2050 according to three scenarios for global warming.
Warmer water will lead to “large-scale redistribution” of these species,
with most of them moving towards the poles, shifting on average by more than
40 kilometers (25 miles) per decade, they said.
Arctic Norway will benefit from an increased catch, but in sub-polar
regions, the tropics and semi-enclosed seas, “climate change may lead to
numerous local extinction,” hitting developing countries most of all, the
paper warned.
Part of this trend will be offset by colder-water species that venture into
a warmer habitat.
In the North Sea, for instance, stocks of Atlantic cod may fall by more
than a fifth as the species heads towards chillier waters.
On the other hand, the European plaice, a more southerly fish, could
increase in the North Sea by more than 10 percent.
In the United States, there would be a fall of up to 50 percent in today’s
cod fisheries on the east coast.
Some species will face a high risk of extinction, including the striped
rock cod in the Antarctic and the St. Paul rock lobster in the Southern Ocean.
The paper, appearing in a British journal, Fish and Fisheries, says the
turnover of species will be “dramatic,” affecting 60 percent of present
biodiversity, and with repercussions for the entire food chain.
source: Agence France-Presse
Where the Sahara meets the Atlantic
“Acid Test” documentary on ocean acidification premieres tonight
Comments
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Sam Wells Posted 11:42 am
13 Feb 2009
Several years ago during a warm water event on the West Coast, giant jumbo squid showed up in Homer, Alaska - these squid should in theory get no farther north than Los Angeles. On the East Coast, Portuguese Man-O-War have been sighed as far as Cape Cod, and Lionfish as far north as North Carolina. Both are extremely toxic by the way.
I wish I could read the real study even a more profound problem is the kind of bacteria in the waters. Vibrio Vulnificus, a devastating flesh eating bacteria that also attacks the nerve system, is definitely moving northward. Sea lice, those critters that ruin wild salmon farms, is on an alarming rise. The only good news is that the Eastern Seaboard has been very cool this year.
Once August rolls around again, I bet we'll hear more about the northern migration of some really strange species. -sammie
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Wolverine Posted 5:40 pm
13 Feb 2009
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Delay And Deny Posted 6:12 am
14 Feb 2009
http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine
She proposes a theory that world turmoil has been driven by a series of manipulated "shocks" designed to transfer power away from local, national entities, to global or corporate ones.
The funny thing is, while she cites examples such as Argentina, War on Terror, dotcom Bust -- the biggest and most obvious example is Global Warming.
I think that everyone should read The Shock Doctrine, but also open their minds to the idea that AGW is a completely fictitious event, designed to make people submit to the Hansen troops and their taxes.
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Sam Wells Posted 1:42 pm
14 Feb 2009
Certain duck, goose, owl, and other bird species are going to areas never seen before. Arctic birds are showing up in Tennessee. Certain birds found way down deep in South America are now found in Texas. And the fish are no different.
An aquatic biologist would also agree that global warming has also caused certain invasive or opportunistic plant species to multiply like heck. I could go on and on about this. In many cases we're not talking about depletion as much as a invasive species taking over the habitat and multiplying geometrically. Forget what you learned in college and the common-speak, what is happening is truly momentous. -sam
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Wolverine Posted 5:21 am
22 Feb 2009
However, my problem is with the framing of the original post. As has been shown, framing is all-important. If people are ever going to get the idea that they're not the center of the universe, it's important for environmental writers to focus on human-caused harms to non-humans. Focusing on fisheries just continues the self-centered paradigm, which is one of the ultimate roots of all environmental problems.
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