The Climate Crisis Is Killing Off Ocean Life – UN Report

Fish are in trouble with the climate crisis, IPCC report finds

Jen Christensen, September 25, 2019 (CNN)

Since the 1970s, the climate crisis has made our oceans warmer and more acidic, reducing the number of fish we rely on for our food and putting the future of fish in peril, according to a major UN report…Rising temperatures mean oceans will have less oxygen, and this, along with more heatwaves and increased acidification, will make fish move further away from the coast and create larger deadzones…[and] lead to the extinction of some species of fish, which Americans have been eating an increasing amount of…

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Fish plays an even bigger role internationally, providing up to half of all animal protein eaten in developing countries and it remains a leading source of vitamins and minerals…[The projected decreases in seafood] will elevate the risk of nutritional health impacts…[Scientists are ‘virtually certain’ that the ocean has warmed between 1970 and 2017…Warmer waters endanger coral reefs that are homes to many fish. Foundation species, meaning fish food, also decline…A February study noted that the increased ocean temperature has already led to more than a 4% global decline in sustainable catches…

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It's ‘virtually certain’ that the ocean has taken up between 20-30% of the total human produced carbon since the 1980s, changing the very chemistry of the ocean, making it more acidic…Without a plan of reducing carbon emissions, the ocean may be so acidic by 2080, that even creatures like some corals that had been able to withstand these conditions may erode quicker than they can rebuild…The IPCC report predicts that by 2100 the ocean will take up two to four times as much heat since 1970, and globally marine heatwaves will very likely increase by a factor of 50 by 2081-2100 if the world doesn't curb its current emissions…” click here for more

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