Fisheries and Aquaculture Face Multiple Risks from Climate Change

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091215170218.htm

ScienceDaily (Dec. 22, 2009) — A new report, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, predicts "an ocean of change" for fishers and fish farmers. It concludes that urgent adaptation measures are required in response to opportunities and threats to food and livelihood provision due to climatic variations.

The study, 'Climate change implications for fisheries and aquaculture', is one of the most comprehensive surveys to date of existing scientific knowledge on the impacts of climate change on fisheries and aquaculture. Covering some 500 scientific papers, the picture the FAO review paints is one of an already-vulnerable sector facing widespread and often profound changes.

The report includes contributions from experts from around the world, including Dr Tim Daw and Prof Katrina Brown of the School of International Development and Prof Neil Adger of the School of Environmental Sciences at UEA. Other contributors come from the WorldFish Center, Globec, Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

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Climate Change And Fisheries: US Atlantic Cod Population To Drop By Half By 2050

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090212171941.htm

ScienceDaily (Feb. 16, 2009) — Scientists have for the first time calculated the likely impact of climate change on the distribution of more than 1,000 species of fish around the globe.

The new research was carried out by scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA), the Sea Around Us project at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Princeton University.*

It has long been known that ocean conditions such as temperature and current patterns are changing due to climate change, and that these changes directly affect the numbers and locations of different species of fish.

Dr Cheung and his team have developed a new computer model that predicts for the first time exactly what might happen under different climate scenarios to the distribution of commercially important species – including cod, herring, sharks, groupers and prawns.

Current conservation and fisheries management measures do not account for climate-driven species distribution shifts and it is hoped this research will change this.

The disturbing results demonstrate for the first time:

   * There will be a large-scale re-distribution of species, with most moving towards the Pole
   * On average, fish are likely to shift their distribution by more than 40km per decade and there will be an increasing abundance of more southern species
   * Developing countries in the tropics will suffer the biggest loss in catch
   * Nordic countries such as Norway will gain with increased catch
   * In the North Sea, the northward shift of Atlantic Cod may reduce its abundance by more than 20 per cent, while European plaice - a more southerly fish - may increase by more than 10 per cent
   * In the US, there may be a 50 per cent reduction in the number of some cod populations on the east coast by 2050
   * Some species will face a high risk of extinction, including Striped Rock Cod in the Antarctic and St Paul Rock Lobster in the Southern Ocean
   * The invasion and local extinction of species may disrupt marine ecosystems and biodiversity

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Tropical Regions To Be Hardest Hit By Fisheries Shifts Caused By Climate Change

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091008073314.htm

ScienceDaily (Oct. 11, 2009) — Major shifts in fisheries distribution due to climate change will affect food security in tropical regions most adversely, according to a study led by the Sea Around Us Project at The University of British Columbia.

Climate change always have to consider to adhere certain developments in managing a good variations of the nature that will be affected.