OUR CHANGING OCEAN - Climate change: ocean and fisheries
Posted on November, 30 2018
The ocean provides livelihoods for millions of people, and food for billions. It supports amazing biodiversity and it regulates our climate. It produces oxygen and absorbs carbon dioxide. Ours is a blue planet, and we all depend
on a healthy ocean. But our ocean is in trouble, and we are responsible.
Since 1970, marine vertebrate populations have fallen by more than half, and the crisis is getting worse. Overfishing, pollution and habitat destruction have had a devastating impact on marine ecosystems and the life they support; and now these pressures are being amplified by another human factor: climate change.Rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere and the higher temperatures it brings are changing our ocean. The waters of the world are warming and becoming more acidic, and the damage is already visible all around us.
2016 saw the highest ocean temperatures on record, as well as the highest levels of CO2. Arctic sea ice receded further than ever before. From rising seas and dying coral to extreme weather and collapsing food webs, change is happening right now.
This brochure explains what climate change means for our ocean, and what that in turn means for us.
Climate change: Ocean and Fisheries
OUR CHANGING OCEAN
© GLOBAL WARMING IMAGES / WWF
Climate change: Ocean and Fisheries
OUR CHANGING OCEAN
© GLOBAL WARMING IMAGES / WWF