Study: Warming Temperatures Threaten Ocean's Biggest Fish
2023-09-28
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1A new study has warned that warming ocean temperatures could threaten some of the largest fish in the sea.
2Many scientists believe warming waters are directly linked to the effects of climate change.
3Research has shown that rising sea temperatures are especially dangerous for larger fish because warmer waters can harm their open-water environments.
4In one recent study, researchers estimated some larger fish species could lose up to 70 percent of their environment, or habitat, by the year 2100.
5These habitat losses could largely remove some of the most economically valuable fish species.
6The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts carried out the study.
7The warning comes after temperatures around the world reached record highs in July.
8Some scientists blame the Pacific Ocean current known as El Niño for the recent heat waves.
9El Niño is a warming of surface water temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean.
10The event usually causes hot, dry weather in Asia and Australia.
11It can also lead to heavier rain in the southern U.S. and southern parts of South America.
12Large fish - such as marlin, skipjack and others - live in areas considered among the fastest warming.
13Camrin Braun is an ocean scientist and the lead writer of the Woods Hole study.
14He told the Associated Press that temperatures in those environments are expected to rise as much as six degrees Celsius by the end of the century.
15Such increases would likely start a widespread displacement of the animals, Braun said.
16"For sure, their habitat will change. How they respond to that is an open question," he added.
17Climate scientists have been studying the heating of the world's oceans for many years.
18Earlier in 2023, average ocean surface temperatures climbed two-tenths of a degree Celsius in a period of just a few weeks.
19The jump surprised even scientists who are used to seeing continued rising temperatures.
20For large species, longer periods of warming can be harmful because of the animals' temperature needs, said Janet Duffy-Anderson.
21She is chief scientific officer at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland, Maine.
22Duffy-Anderson said large fish are often highly migratory.
23Increased warming could result in some species moving to northern or deeper waters in search of normal temperatures, she added.
24The Gulf of Maine lies off the northeastern US and Canada.
25It is warming especially quickly.
26This is expected to cause big population movements, especially for species of marlin and tuna.
27Large fish are important to healthy oceans because many of them, such as white sharks, are predators serving as critical pieces of the top of the food chain.
28Some species are also economically important to humans as food.
29The possible loss of large fish is one of the many results of warming oceans that scientists have warned about this year.
30One study said the collapse of ocean currents that transport heat northward across the North Atlantic could happen by mid-century.
31In Florida, federal ocean researchers said some ocean coral were losing their color weeks earlier than normal because of record temperatures.
32Penny Becker is with the Seattle-based environmental group Island Conservation.
33She told the AP the threat to large fish is another reason to raise awareness about the different ways climate change is affecting sea life.
34"If you're missing these components of these larger fish species, that's a missing hole in the ecosystem," Becker said.
35I'm Bryan Lynn.