I like to eat fish. Salmon, flounder, mahi mahi, perch, tuna, halibut, you name it. Fried, baked, poached or raw, I’ll scarf it down. Unfortunately my children and grandchildren (and yours) may soon experience the absence of fish as a main course, because as this UN report makes clear, global climate change and over-harvesting is having a demonstrable effect on our ocean’s fish stocks. Indeed, they are rapidly decreasing as the world (and especially the government of the United States) dithers over what actions to take to limit our collective carbon footprint.
Monaco/Nairobi, 22 February 2008 – Climate change is emerging as the latest threat to the world’s dwindling fish stocks a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) suggests.
At least three quarters of the globe’s key fishing grounds may become seriously impacted by changes in circulation as a result of the ocean’s natural pumping systems fading and falling they suggest.
These natural pumps, dotted at sites across the world including the Arctic and the Mediterranean, bring nutrients to fisheries and keep them healthy by flushing out wastes and pollution.
The impacts of rising emissions on the marine world are unlikely to end there. Higher sea surface temperatures over the coming decades threaten to bleach and kill up to 80 per cent of the globe’s coral reefs-major tourist attractions, natural sea defences and also nurseries for fish.
Meanwhile there is growing concern that carbon dioxide emissions will increase the acidity of seas and oceans. This in turn may impact calcium and shell-forming marine life including corals but also tiny ones such as planktonic organisms at the base of the food chain.
The findings come in a new rapid response report entitled “In Dead Water” which has for the first time mapped the multiple impacts of pollution; alien infestations; over-exploitation and climate change on the seas and oceans. […]
“Climate change threatens coastal infrastructure, food and water supplies and the health of people across the world. It is clear from this report and others that it will add significantly to pressures on fish stocks. This is as much a development and economic issue as it is an environmental one. Millions of people including many in developing countries derive their livelihoods from fishing while around 2.6 billion people get their protein from seafood,” [Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director] said.
But don’t lose heart. I hear grubs and insects will make a wonderful protein supplement to our diet in the years to come. Mmmmm-mmmm, good!
