Weatherwatch: marine ‘hot spot’ could change makeup of British fish species

U K waters, particularly the southern North Sea, are warming fast, making the North Atlantic one of the world’s marine “hot spots”. Scientists have been asked by the UK government to forecast what this means for British food supply and predict potentially dangerous tipping points that lie ahead. While the UK already has milder winters because of warmer seas and heavier rain because of extra moisture in the atmosphere, this investigation is about what is happening under the waves.

Already fishers are travelling ever further north to catch British favourites such as cod and haddock, and some salmon stocks face extinction. Anchovy, bluefin tuna, sardines, squid and red mullet are already replacing these species and fishers need British consumers’ culinary tastes to change if they are to make a living marketing these new species. But more dangerous changes may also be afoot.



The increasing acidity of the seas caused by greater carbon dioxide absorption might kill some marine species and the melting Arctic ice has the potential to switch off vital currents such as the Gulf Stream. These dramatic changes could cause the loss of one of the UK’s major food sources. This fear has led the government to fund this new research aimed at predicting when these dangerous climate tipping points might occur.

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