Climate change not all bad for fish: study

CORAL reef fisheries will be hurt by climate change in the tropical Pacific, but it could help tuna fishing and freshwater aquaculture thrive.

Pacific Island countries have an "extraordinary dependence" on fisheries and aquaculture, scientists say in a report on how changes to the atmosphere and ocean are likely to affect the food webs, habitats and stocks underpinning fisheries and aquaculture across the region.

"Maintaining the benefits from the sector is a difficult task, now made more complex by climate change," they say in Nature Climate Change on Monday.

"We found winners and losers.

"Tuna are expected to be more abundant in the east, and freshwater aquaculture and fisheries are likely to be more productive.

"Conversely, coral reef fisheries could decrease by 20 per cent by 2050 and coastal aquaculture may be less efficient."

The potential impact on invertebrates is "still poorly understood" but is expected to be more moderate.

The report from Australian and other scientists around the world says the potential benefits to the region from an eastward shift in skipjack tuna should exceed the threats.

They suggest that maintaining livelihoods in the region will require some income-earning activities to switch from coral reef fish to pelagic fish, particularly tuna.

Pelagic fish spend much of their lives in open water away from the bottom.

"Ironically in an archipelagic region, many of the extra jobs are likely to come from farming freshwater fish," the report says

But a potential increase in freshwater fisheries could be negated if industries such as mining, agriculture and logging continue to pollute waterways, raising temperatures.

The onus is on governments, communities and their development partners to implement a range of supporting policies, the scientists say.

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Climate change not all bad for fish: study

Dengan url

http://mesinjahitan.blogspot.com/2013/03/climate-change-not-all-bad-for-fish.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Climate change not all bad for fish: study

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Climate change not all bad for fish: study

sebagai sumbernya