Fisheries catches in the Arctic totaled 950,000 tonnes from 1950 to 2006, almost 75 times the amount reported to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) during this period, according to a new Sea Around Us led study out this week in Polar Biology. The Arctic is one of the last and most extensive ocean wilderness areas in the world. The extent of the sea ice in the region has declined in recent years due to climate change, raising concerns over loss of biodiversity as well as the expansion of industrial fisheries into this area. This study offers a more accurate baseline against which to monitor changes in fish catches and to inform policy and conservation efforts. Find the full press release that accompanies the research here and coverage in Nature News here.
Tag: climate change
Climate Change Will Affect Ocean Food Supply
Major shifts in fisheries distribution due to climate change will affect food security in tropical regions most adversely, according to a new study led by the Sea Around Us Project’s William Cheung (now based at the University of East Anglia in the UK). The study, published today Global Change Biology, finds that climate change will produce major shifts in productivity of the world’s fisheries, affecting ocean food supply throughout the world, most particularly in the tropics. Read the full press release here and a summary of scientific findings and some of the major maps and graphs from the climate change study here . The Pew Environment Group also put out a report on the study in their Ocean Science Series.