Lance Anderson, Upsplash
As reported in National Fisherman, the effects of climate change are already shifting ocean fish populations, and a new study by Rutgers University scientists showed that species-by-species predictions of fish movements are likely overestimating their ability to adapt to changing conditions.
The study, published April 13 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, points out how climate-driven changes to food web relationships could change over time and predicts changes in the food web could prevent those species from thriving in their new geographic ranges.
“What that suggests from a fisheries perspective is that while the species we fish today will be there tomorrow, they will not be there in the same abundance. In such a context, overfishing becomes easier because the population growth rates are low,” said study coauthor Malin Pinsky, an associate professor in Rutgers’ Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources in a statement describing the findings.
“Warming coupled with food-web dynamics will be like putting marine biodiversity in a blender.”