– Now there are beginning to be situations that are outside of what fish have experienced. It can be critical that they simply die, says researcher Geir Ottersen at the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research. The Barents Sea is one of the sea areas where more “marine heat waves” have been measured than in the past. More than half of all days with heat wave status from 1982 to 2020 have occurred in the last decade. This is revealed in a new climate report commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers. In the same way as on land, the heat waves are abnormally high and last over a period of time. Geir Ottersen has led the Nordic report which is now being handed over to the authorities. Photo: Erlend Astad Lorentzen / Institute of Marine Research The UN climate panel has warned that “marine heat waves” are a threat to life in the sea. – We have seen in the Pacific Ocean an enormous area with higher temperatures than normal for approx. five years ago. It created serious problems for some of the fish stocks there, so we fear that there could be trouble, says Ottersen. He singles out polar cod and farmed salmon as two fish species at risk, when the temperature in the sea rises a lot. Ottersen says that the heat periods in Norway in the summer are approaching what salmon can tolerate. – So in the worst case you can get an increased and massive mortality in the salmon cages. The farming industry should be observant, he says. The report that is being handed over to the Ministry of Climate and the Environment deals with the consequences of climate change. Warmer seas and rising sea levels are central to the report. Much of the issue has been discussed previously, but the report is designed to give a more detailed picture of the Nordic region than the UN’s climate reports are capable of.
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Warns against marine heat waves – can harm life in the sea – news Troms and Finnmark
