By: Maya Vossen-Nelson

The ocean absorbs large amounts of heat without a large increase in temperature. Given this property, the ocean has always played a central role in stabilizing Earth’s climate system, but in the past 100 years humans have created a climate that produces heat at an intensity that has overwhelmed the ocean. According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the most telling sign of the overworked oceans is that over the past 100 years, the average global sea surface temperature has increased by approximately 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit each decade. This is significant because a large amount of heat needs to be absorbed by the ocean for water temperatures to rise even slightly.

According to NASA, 90% of global warming is occurring in the ocean. The ocean is not able to keep up as efficiently as it used to and is creating devastating consequences. 

When the ocean temperatures begin to rise, this is an indicator of extreme levels of carbon and methane in the atmosphere that are trapping solar rays and damaging the ozone, thereby trapping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. The levels of carbon dioxide dissolving from the atmosphere into the ocean have become so high that the water has become acidic.

Fisheries and fishing boats are reporting more frequent marine heat waves and whole fish community die-offs. At the very least, in response to the warming sea temperatures, many fish populations are migrating to colder waters. This has become so noticeable that many fishing businesses are being forced to change their fishing strategies and some are even considering calling it quits.

A perfect example is the seafood industry on the east coast. Boston NPR station, WBUR, reports that “The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than most of the world’s oceans. As a result, iconic New England species like cod and lobster have shifted north or moved deeper into the ocean in search of colder water.”

Without any interventions, it will only be a matter of time before the world’s fishing industry is turned on its head.