Warming Waters Warning For Fisheries; Since 1995, Lake Ontario Temperatures Up 2.2F
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Data analyzed by Climate Central show that water temperatures in the Great Lakes and coastal surface waters are warming throughout the United States, as well as in many freshwater streams. Those warming waters are impacting the health of fish, their ecosystems, and the economies that depend on them.
Many fish are sensitive to temperature and can survive only in specific temperature ranges. As waters in oceans, streams, and the Great Lakes warm, fish seek out cooler waters in higher latitudes or elevation, or when possible, in greater depths. But there are limitations to how far north, or high in elevation, fish can travel before running out of water, let alone water in a suitable temperature zone. Also, water composition changes with rising temperatures. For example, oxygen levels drop and algae blooms grow.
In addition to the direct impacts of hotter water, rising temperatures contribute to more heavy rainfall, which leads to increased runoff that washes pollutants and nutrients into waterways. Warmer winters and earlier springs also result in decreased snowpack, removing a source of cool water to replenish streams, rivers, and lakes in the Western U.S., accelerating the warming of waterways.
Climate Central analyzed spring and summer stream temperature changes (when water is not frozen) since 1990 at 40 continental U.S gauges operated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Despite the large number of gauges around the country, only a subset have collected long-term, consistent temperature data over the entire period. Of the gauges analyzed, 65% show an increase in water temperature with that range extending up to as much as 4°F. Among those gauges where there has been a temperature decrease, the drop is as much as 5°F. Rising temperatures are more prevalent in the South and Southeast, with all 10 streams analyzed getting warmer.
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https://www.climatecentral.org/news/in-hot-water-warming-waters-are-stressing-fish-and-the-fishing-industry-2019
