Climate change hampers fisheries globally: study

NEW YORK: Researches warned that climate change and over-fishing has several of affected the world’s fisheries. As per a study published in the journal ‘Science’, suggests that warming of the oceans has led to an estimated 4.1 per cent drop in sustainable catches of many species of fish and shellfish from 1930 to 2010, on an average.

The study reveals that in five regions of the world, including the East China Sea and North Sea saw the estimated decline of 15 to 35 per cent.

Chris Free, who led the research at Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey said, “We recommend that fisheries’ managers eliminate overfishing, rebuild fisheries and account for climate change in fisheries management decisions.”

The researchers studied the impact of ocean warming on 235 populations of 124 species in 38 ecological regions around the world. The studied species included fish, crustaceans such as shrimp, and molluscs such as sea scallops.

To estimate temperature-driven changes in the sustainable catch (known as the maximum sustainable yield) from 1930 to 2010, the researchers combined global data on fisheries with ocean temperature maps. Their analysis covered about one third of the reported global catch, and losing species outweighed the winners as the oceans warmed.

The regions saw greatest losses were the North Sea, Iberian Coastal, Kuroshio Current and Celtic-Biscay Shelf regions. On the other hand, the greatest gains were seen in the Labrador-Newfoundland, Baltic Sea, Indian Ocean and Northeast US Shelf regions.