Warming Trends Rise In Large Ocean Areas – Study

Warming trends in a third of the world’s large ocean regions are two to four times greater than previously reported averages, increasing the risk to marine life and fisheries, a UN-backed environmental study said.

Overfishing, coastal pollution and degradation of water quality were common in all 64 large marine ecosystems studied by scientists who contributed to the UN Environmental Programme report presented at an international conference on oceans, coasts and islands in Vietnam this week.
“These marine ecosystems are under great stress and that stress is increasing because of climate change, by global warming,” co-author Ken Sherman of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in an interview.

“We really need to have policy makers and donors recognise that we need to fund efforts to reduce the stress,” Sherman said.

The report said that in 18 of the 64 regions, “the accelerated warming trends are 2-4 times greater than the average trends reported in 2007 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change”.

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