Dossier

The signicficance of climate change for the oceans and the fisheries

SF Institute of Sea Fisheries

OF Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries

Climate change leaves visible marks not only on land: Also the ocean ecosystems will change, having consequences for the fishing sector and aquaculture.

Einfach gezeichnete Fische in verschiedenen Grüntönen auf einem grünen Hintergrund

Already in 2015, the fifth assessment report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) addressed the consequences of climate change on the oceans and the fishing sector. With a temperature increase of only 2°C above pre-industrial levels, significant losses in global fish catches are expected to be in the billion-dollar range by 2050. However, there will be significant regional differences.

In the meantime, the effects are also clearly noticeable in the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and the North Atlantic. Stocks of commercially important fish such as cod and mackerel have shifted further north, and other species are joining them from southern areas. A special situation arises for the Baltic Sea, which is bounded to the north by Scandinavia. Together with the special salinity and oxygen conditions of this near-inland sea, tight limits are placed on the possibilities for evasion and adaptation of the stocks found there. This has drastic effects on the herring stock in the western Baltic Sea, for example.

Expertise

Impact on the fishing sector and aquaculture

In collaboration with Cambridge University, the Thünen Institute of Sea Fisheries has summarized important key findings on fisheries management and aquaculture found in the IPCC Assessment Report.

Climate change: some come, some go

Climate change has arrived in European seas such as the North Sea and the Baltic Sea in a noticeable and measurable way. Environmental conditions are changing rapidly. As a result, ecosystems and fish stocks are changing in their composition and performance.

Cephalopods in climate change

In many regions around the world, a decline in predatory fishes and rising ocean temperatures are favoring cephalopod population trends. Even in the North Sea, traditionally not known for large cephalopod abundances, squid biomass is increasing. What does this mean for commercial fish species, and are squid themselves becoming a fisheries resource here?

Thünen explains

Herring Trapped in Climate Change

The herring stock in the Western Baltic Sea has been producing fewer and fewer offspring for years. In our multimedia feature we explain how climate change impacts herring productivity and what we did over the last 15 years to discover this.

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