Global Warming? The Writing's on the Seawall

categories: Fossil Energy, Oceans, Water, Wildlife & Biodiversity

Published November 06, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT

It's getting harder and harder to ignore climate change. Now our favorite ocean creatures are confirming what we already know. As the water gets warmer, the fish are moving away, faaar away, to find cooler habitats.

Researchers at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have published a new study that reveals that half of 36 fish stocks in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean have shifted their ranges to the north over the last forty years, reports Science Daily. Some of the stocks, many of which are commerically fished, have all but vanished from U.S. waters.

Their research, which appears in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series, illustrates how changing coastal and ocean temperatures are altering the behavior of fish species that range from North Carolina to the Canadian border. The species in question include Atlantic cod, haddock, yellowtail, winter flounder, spiny dogfish, Atlantic herring and more obscure species like blackbelly rosefish.

The researchers took account of historic ocean temperature records, long-term oscillation processes, fishing pressures over time and natural fluctuations in ocean temperatures to arrive at their conclusions.

"The fact that we see responses in many species consistent with what you would expect with warming, but in different types of species that have experienced different historical fishing pressure, suggests that we are already witnessing the response of fish to a warming scenario," said Janet Nye, a postdoctoral researcher at NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center laboratory and the study's lead author, according to Science Daily.

And how will this impact the dinner table? The study's authors said that as fishermen have to travel farther to find the species that are moving offshore, it will eventually stop being economically feasible to catch them. At that point consumers will have to do without.

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng

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Comments (1)

I guess birds and fish don't listen to Fox News. This is a good thing.

Posted by Craig Nazor on 11/07/2009 @ 10:12PM PT
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Katherine Gustafson is a freelance writer and editor with a background in international nonprofit organizations. Her articles, essays, and stories have been published in numerous magazines, newspapers, books, and Websites.