This global warming is a fishy affair

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Oslo, Aug 21: The South American ‘Red Devil’ squid found off Alaska and jellyfish plaguing the Mediterranean may point to vast disruptions in the seas due to global warming, pollution or over-fishing, experts say.

Fish such as salmon and mackerel have also been spotted in the Arctic, far north of their normal ranges, in a possible first signal of billion-dollar shifts in fish stocks this century caused by warming oceans.

“There will be some places where ocean productivity will increase,” said Ron O’Dor, senior scientist of the Census of Marine Life, a 10-year project in more than 70 nations to map the ocean diversity.

“The story of global warming is going to be good for some people and bad for others,” he added.

Many scientists say gases emitted by burning fossil fuels are blanketing the planet and driving up temperatures, threatening to spur more floods, heatwaves, erosion and rising sea levels.

Warmer oceans are likely to add to older threats such as pollution and over-fishing and upset the habitats of everything from crabs and jellyfish to ‘RedDevil’ squid and whales.

As species shift, tropical regions, or almost enclosed seas such as the Mediterranean where fish cannot swim far if the water gets uncomfortably warm, may be among the most vulnerable.