Climate change
BY VINCE MCDONAGH
Feeling the heat Warming oceans represent a clear and present danger for fishing and fish farming, a new report concludes
G
LOBAL warming poses a bigger threat to the future growth of aquaculture than many realise, a new study suggests, with salmon and mussels par�cularly at risk. The University of Bri�sh Columbia (UBC), close to Canada’s main salmon ac�vity and the world’s largest ocean, has completed a major research project that shows that fish farms are not immune to the impact of climate change. The poten�al consequences are seriously worrying. Sea warming is already being blamed for the increase in salmon lice and diseases such as infec�ous salmon anaemia (ISA), but the UBC study says that if no ac�on is taken to
mi�gate climate change the supply of salmon and mussels could drop by 16% globally over the next 70 years. The researchers from the UBC’s research unit, known as the Ins�tute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF), used a complex model incorpora�ng extreme annual ocean temperatures in exclusive economic zones, where the majority of global fish catches occur, into climate-related projec�ons for fish, fisheries and their dependent human communi�es.
Above: Muhammed Oyinlola Left: Glacier mel�ng Opposite: Bangladesh fishing boat
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11/01/2022 14:31:23
