Global fish stocks will not be able to recover to sustainable levels without strong actions to mitigate climate change, a new study involving UBC researchers says.
They said those stocks will struggle to rebuild their numbers under projected global warming levels in the 21st century. Global warming Currently, the world is on track to exceed 1.5 degrees of warming relative to pre-industrial levels and approach two degrees in the next few decades, Cheung said. “Tropical ecoregions in Asia, the Pacific, South America and Africa are experiencing declining fish populations as species both move further north to cooler waters and are also unable to recover due to fishing demands,” said Cheung. “These regions are the ones that feel the effects of global warming first and our study shows that even a slight increase of 1.
“To rebuild fish stocks, climate change must be fully considered,” said study co-author Juliano Palacios-Abrantes, IOF postdoctoral fellow. “We live in a globalized world, where situations are interconnected. We are seeing this most significantly in tropical regions, but also in the Arctic, where many exploited species are slow to mature, or Ireland, Canada and the U.S., with high fishing mortality rates.