Woods Hole - About Half Of 36 Fish Species Surveyed Moved N & E Past 40 Yrs - Seeking Cooler Water

[hatrack]

A new study by fisheries scientists in Woods Hole shows that about half of the 36 fish stocks they surveyed had shifted north or east toward cooler waters over the past 40 years, possibly in response to rising water temperatures due to global warming. The study, conducted by scientists at the National Marine Fisheries Service Northeast Fisheries Science Center, requires further research to factor out the effects of decades of overfishing to get a true picture of the impact of warming seas, researchers said.

But the fish migration northward could mean that fishermen will have to travel farther to catch familiar species but might also see new opportunities in species coming up from southern waters. Still, it could mean that some species, like cod, may not find the rich food resources available on a place like Georges Bank. "Fish can shift into habitat that is suitable to them, and if there's enough food there and the water temperature is right, productivity of the fishery might not necessarily go down. But if they move into unsuitable habitat, we might expect the fishery to not be as productive," said Janet Nye, a post-doctoral researcher at the fisheries science center, and lead author of the study published in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series.

"This is not good news if it translates into lower productivity," said New England Fishery Management Council Deputy Executive Director Chris Kellogg. But his agency deals primarily with the current size of a fish stock in making the fishery management plans that govern how much fish can be caught each year.

Nye, along with co-authors Jason Link, Jonathan Hare and William Overholz, looked at 36 species that were consistently caught on the NMFS annual spring fish survey, from North Carolina to the Canadian border. In an interview yesterday, Nye explained that fish tend to congregate around areas that have sufficient food and habitat, and the right environmental conditions like water temperature. Although fishing can reduce the numbers of fish, these population centers tend to thrive because they have optimal conditions for that fish species. The NMFS researchers noticed that 24 of the 36 stocks had changes in distribution consistent with warming ocean temperatures. Ten of the 36 stocks had significantly expanded their territory, and 12 had reduced it. Seventeen stocks moved to deeper waters to find cooler temperatures.

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http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091103/NEWS/911030310

[GliderGuider]

1. In the words of Dr. Patrick Condon

"Not a single week goes by without some new, extremely credible group coming to the same conclusion, and that conclusion is always that it's happening faster than even the most pessimistic scientist would have predicted, those who were scoffed at years ago."

[Uben]

2. And yet.....

...we have a thriving population of yellow perch right here in Texas. Yellow perch are commonly a cold water fish, found mainly in the northern states. Our lake is a small 600 acre lake where water temperatures reach the upper eighties in the summer. No one knows how the yellow perch got in the lake or how they manage to survive. Logic would dictate that they are adaptable to warmer water.