Fish migrating to cooler waters, study says (CNN)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Azadeh Ansari
CNN

(CNN) -- Climate-driven environmental changes could drastically affect the distribution of more than 1,000 species of commercial fish and shellfish around the world, scientists say.

For the first time, researchers using computer models have been able to predict the effect that warming oceans, fed by greenhouse-gas emissions, could have on marine biodiversity on a global scale.

A new study predicts that by 2050, large numbers of marine species will migrate from tropical seas toward cooler waters -- specifically the Arctic and Southern Ocean -- at an average rate of 40 to 45 kilometers (about 25 to 28 miles) per decade.

These migrations could lead to "numerous extinctions" of marine species outside the Arctic and Antarctic, especially in tropical waters, according to the study's projections.

"These are major impacts that we are going to see within our lifetime and our children's lifetime," said William Cheung, lead author of the study, set to be published this week in the journal Fish and Fisheries.
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more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/02/12/fish.migration.study/index.html

[Ian David]

1. If you like fish, develop a taste for catfish now. n/t