Climate Change Drives Fish Into New Waters, Remaking an Industry (wsj.com) 87
The catch is shifting northward as water temperatures rise, forcing crews to retool their boats and rework their businesses. From a report: Aboard the Stanley K and the Oracle, two 58-foot vessels, Buck Laukitis and his crews chase halibut across the Bering Sea worth $5 a pound at the docks. As sea temperatures rise, and Arctic ice retreats the fish appear to be avoiding warming waters, migrating northward where they cost more to reach, federal fisheries biologists say. Twice this past fall, the Oracle sailed 800 miles north from the seaport of Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands, before finding the halibut that a decade ago lived several hundred miles closer to home. Each voyage took twice as long and yielded half as many fish. "It keeps me up at night," he says. "I woke up at three in the morning. I couldn't sleep thinking about where the fish are going."
Across the continent from Mr. Laukitis in Rhode Island, black sea bass have moved in with the warming waters. The bulk once lived roughly 700 miles south off North Carolina. Now they are a staple catch in Point Judith, R.I., along with the summer flounder that also have begun appearing. [...] The impact of climate change has a price, and for fishing-boat owners in sea ports, that means following the catch. The northward movement of fish around the world is disrupting some fishing grounds and revitalizing others -- and fishing businesses are trying to adapt their operations.
The impact of temperature on oceans is varied. As the atmosphere warmed in recent decades, oceans absorbed heat unevenly, causing marine hot spots that can last months, scientists say. Spikes of warmer water affect fisheries differently depending on ocean currents, ocean depth and seafloor topography. Higher temperatures mean less dissolved oxygen in the water while increasing a fish's demand for oxygen by speeding up its metabolism. Warming water may also favor predators or drive off species on which commercial fish feed. All told, warming ocean temperatures are pushing hundreds of marine species outside of their traditional ranges, ocean scientists say.
Across the continent from Mr. Laukitis in Rhode Island, black sea bass have moved in with the warming waters. The bulk once lived roughly 700 miles south off North Carolina. Now they are a staple catch in Point Judith, R.I., along with the summer flounder that also have begun appearing. [...] The impact of climate change has a price, and for fishing-boat owners in sea ports, that means following the catch. The northward movement of fish around the world is disrupting some fishing grounds and revitalizing others -- and fishing businesses are trying to adapt their operations.
The impact of temperature on oceans is varied. As the atmosphere warmed in recent decades, oceans absorbed heat unevenly, causing marine hot spots that can last months, scientists say. Spikes of warmer water affect fisheries differently depending on ocean currents, ocean depth and seafloor topography. Higher temperatures mean less dissolved oxygen in the water while increasing a fish's demand for oxygen by speeding up its metabolism. Warming water may also favor predators or drive off species on which commercial fish feed. All told, warming ocean temperatures are pushing hundreds of marine species outside of their traditional ranges, ocean scientists say.
Re: Bullshit (Score:1)
If you are going to call others an idiot you should at least spellcheck before posting.
And no it was not a typo.
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Ah, spoken like a true preacher, say the one of a Church in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay whose island is disappearing. Said the holy man of the cloth, I paraphrase, the world is such a magnificent creation of G-d that man cannot affect it.
Kind of hard to argue with the fish. They cannot speak but they do vote.
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I see you do not live on one of the islands of the Pacific Ocean that is going bye-bye from higher oceans. Gee, sometimes change costs some people money....like their entire nation.
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Micronesia - Eight Pacific islands lost [newscientist.com]
Islands aren't the only problem. The a huge bulk of human society lives on the coasts. London, Miami, New York, etc. Miami is experiencing far more flooding just from tides than it did just 30 years ago.
London built the Thames Barrier to prevent storm surge flooding. over 50 percent of it's usage has been regular tidal flooding [www.gov.uk]
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"The northward movement of fish around the world is disrupting some fishing grounds and revitalizing others -- and fishing businesses are trying to adapt their operations. "
Sometime change costs some people money (and risk), and sometimes the exact same change reduces peoples' costs (and risks). Imagine that. The human mind is capable of reasoning about and understanding patterns that will allow us to adjust to changes in our environment. Perhaps we're not all going to die (at least all at once).
...unless you live in the Pacific and fish are a staple part of your diet.
In which case you starve to death.
Re:What fish? (Score:5, Interesting)
The article makes a big deal about how climate has effected the fishing industry. I'm a huge lover of old books and have read pretty much everything I could get my hands on from the past 5000 years of writing. I recall stories dating back to the ancient Egyptians regarding the how a major part of their version of modern politics was centered around the inundation of the Nile. And in recent times, we know that it's very important for dead fish to be left on the shores of the Nile to fertilize crops.
It seems to me that I can think of books and historical references from nearly every era of human history that would tell stories of fishermen chasing fish because the fishing grounds constantly changed.
That said, I live in Norway now which depends almost as much on fish as on oil money. A massive portion of the country's income is spent on fish breeding and while Norway is still a whaling country, they apparently are believed to be one of the top contributors to repopulating the whales of the world. I know very little about the details and I have no idea how accurate my understanding of this topic is. I believe most of what I know is hearsay.
That said, I wonder if anyone here on Slashdot is knowledgeable about the fishing industry and could answer some questions.
1) Are the migratory issues normal? In other words, did the fish always move similar to this? Is the problem because companies aren't "fishing companies" but instead "halibut companies"? Instead of changing to a different fish as might have happened 500 years ago, the companies are chasing specific types of fish now because they have the means to?
2) Is the fish population genuinely less or could it be that fish are adapting to a more hostile environment and swimming further from the surface as a matter of survival?
3) Is this an issue of genuine migration? The blurb makes a point that not only are the fish further north, but there are less of them? Could it be that these fish were probably always there but the southern populations have been so over-fished that there simply aren't enough left to make it profitable?
4) Could the population have migrated elsewhere and we simply haven't found them yet? I imagine we don't have submarines zooming all over the Atlantic looking for halibut.
5) Is it even possible to farm fish instead? In other words, here in Norway, much of our salmon comes from farms instead of free range. Is it possible for the industry to adapt for other fish?
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Maine is seeing this too (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm not necessarily blaming the rank and file though. Most of the Dems don't really have a solution besides "consume less", which would be great if a) the vast majority of pollution was from consumers and not the companies they buy from and b) folks weren't living paycheck to paycheck so on edge they're terrified of any change. A few lefties like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have suggested a "Green New Deal" to address this, but the Clinton Democrats (the right wing of the party) don't want to tax their wealthy donors to pay for it all.
So the result is this, we're all going to hell in a handbasket and just pretending it's not happening.
Re:Maine is seeing this too (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Maine is seeing this too (Score:5, Informative)
And yet Florida rewards the governor who refuse to check the miners with a Senate seat. Florida deserves this.
Re:Maine is seeing this too (Score:5, Informative)
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Change takes time.
Yeah, so it does... That doesn't lessen the voters' responsibility for the people they reelect. This is on their shoulders. Any complaints from the outside (tourists) or the inside (locals) should be directed at them. Nobody forces them to vote for bling.
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Elections have consequences. If the people chose to vote for people that will do this to them then that is their choice. If the people who live in Fla fail to go out and vote for the people that wants to do something about this rather than the people who calls it a hoax and refuse to deal with the miners then that is their choice. In all circumstances it's the people's choice. Bottom line people vote or refuse to vote and they get what they get.
...they get what they ask for.
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In all circumstances it's the people's choice. Bottom line people vote or refuse to vote and they get what they get.
You don't seme to realise this is Florida we're talking about. 10% of the adult population are (were? did they fix it this time round?) denied the right to vote. You can hardly blame people for the outcome when bullshit laws prevent them from affecting it.
The people didn't necessarily choose (Score:2, Flamebait)
The FL GOP is as cr
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Even without mass media spoon feeding, people have to take their own initiative and raise hell.
Re: Maine is seeing this too (Score:1)
Well frankly the Democrats weren't pro Trump enough which is my important than killing off the gulf of Mexico. Both Republican candidates had red hats and warned of scary liberals.
So the population spoke which is made up of white rednecks
Algae grows best in warmer waters (Score:1, Flamebait)
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I live in Florida in the Midst of the Red Tide Area of Sarasota.... The issue with Red Tide IS NOT a climate issue. Its Phosphorus miners dumping MASSIVE AMOUNTS of Phosphorus waste into the Rivers and Channels that lead to the bay
But why not blame it on climate change if it will get people and governments to act?
Re:Maine is seeing this too (Score:4, Informative)
This is the same issue with the Great Barrier Reef; our farmers here are dumping massive amounts of phosphorus runoff which is negatively affecting the reef. In tests where this runoff has been abated, the Reef has bounced back with surprising resilience.
Again, ZERO to do with climate change. Everything to do with farmers, and in most cased industrialized farming.
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I used to have the misfortune of living in the minimum wage state for 6 of the worst years of my life.
First, let's start by saying that "Sun and fun" and "I don't have to shovel rain" are not good enough reasons to move to the state of apathy known as Florida. Florida has endless problems and not least among them is "We really don't care about anything so long as it doesn't make us actually work or learn.". Additionally, Florida is crippled by a population who votes almo
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You are correct that the PRIMARY cause of red tide is the extra nitrates, Phosphorus, and Fe that enables the red tide microorganisms to thrive. However, normally, there is fast tidal movement that sweeps through the gulf and moves the PO4, nitrates, and Fe out of the gulf and up along the American eastern coastline, which as you know, runs up to Europe and warms them. Issue is, that with AGW, and in particular, Greenland's massive ice melt, it is actually slowing down the movement. This i
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WindBourne's post (to which the AC you were responding to was himself responding to) said, "there is fast tidal movement..." The AC you're responding to is quite right: tides are caused by the gravitational attraction of the moon and (to a lesser extent) the sun. They are also affected by other things, such as the size of the water basin (tides in the Atlantic can be sizeable, while tides in the Great Lakes are negligible), the position of the measuring station (tides act something like standing waves, so
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I'm generally critical of democrats as well, but they did do that whole push for solar and wind development that's currently driving the cost of renewables below fossil fuels.
Re: Maine is seeing this too (Score:1, Interesting)
That's not driving the cost below fossils, dumbass, it's forcing people to pay more to buy renewables first
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Most of the Dems don't really have a solution besides "consume less", which would be great if a) the vast majority of pollution was from consumers and not the companies they buy from
Careful, now... this is vying with your long-lived (and never documented) canard about broadband costing ISPs $9/month for the dubious honor of being one of the dumbest things you've ever said. In the real world the rest of us live in, companies don't keep steadfastly churning out the same volume of products regardless of long-term demand.
Why would companies make it? (Score:1)
It's not rocket surgery
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GOP are causing this, but the GD Dems have NOTHING original amongst the lot of them.
It is so easy to solve things like Cimate change, red tide, even our deficits, but both parties are composed of gutless wonders.
OTOH (Score:1)
The restaurants now can buy local black sea bass instead of having it cooled and sent by truck for 700 miles which is good for the climate.
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Re:Red Herring (Score:5, Interesting)
I was also thinking about overfishing, but not migration. I instead suspect these fish have always been that far north, but nobody knew because the fishing was easier further south. But now that the more southern fisheries have been overfished, the fishermen are going further north and finding new--to them--schools.
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Yeah well, the fish heading south are going to bump into a huge land mass before they get near the pole.
Humans are also Predatory (Score:3)
Here in Alaska, there is always concern over the fish stocks. The commercial boats want to catch as much as possible for as cheaply as possible. The sport fishers and charter boats want to catch a reasonable amount (relatively small) and have fun doing it. And the subsistence fishers just want to pack their freezers so they can survive.
From my sport fisher point-of-view, aside from the climate change bits, the problem is over-fishing by the commercial boats. Those trawlers just catch sooo many fish. 8y ago, our average halibut was 45-50 lbs, and keep 2 of any size. Now its
The salmon aren't any different. The return numbers and escapements continue to get lower. And I can't tell you the last time the US met its TREATY goals with Canada. If the commercial boats catch all the salmon in the ocean, they can't return to spawn to make more fish.
Many of these problems are man-made with straightforward solutions.
This has impacted trawler design (Score:3)
Now that fishermen are netting fried cod and grilled halibut, the boats are being redesigned to keep the catch piping hot from net to dock.
sardines in CA (Score:2)