USA: NOAA Fisheries predicts some fish and crab species will shift further north than expected due to climate change

NOAA Fisheries said it has developed new scientific models to predict changes to the Eastern Bering Sea due to climate change and has found large shifts for commercially important species. In a release, NOAA said the study found several economically important species will see shifts in their summer distributions, with most shifting north by between 50 and 200 kilometers by 2080.Included in those shifts are large declines in the amount of the area red king crab, snow crab, and potentially northern rock sole occupy in the southern months; an increase in the area occupied by arrowtooth flounder, which is a predator of pollock; and declines in probability of occurrence of most species in areas with low pH and oxygen concentration. “As a subarctic ecosystem at the sea ice margin, the eastern Bering Sea is warming faster than much of the global ocean, resulting in the rapid redistribution of key fishery and subsistence resources,” said Maurice Goodman, the lead author of the study and a ...