Good news for the fish industry. To add to the devastation of fish resources, be it by overfishing or by their falling prey to global warming, they no longer have to wait for the fingerlings to grow to trade them to the restaurant kitchens.
Global warming is leading to faster fattening up of the fish living near the surface of the Pacific – where warming is greater, compared to the species in the deep sea, which are growing at a comparatively slower pace there in cooler water, according to a new study.
It seems to be an ideal phenomenon encouraging faster exploitation of marine habitat by man.
Making them more resilient to over fishing, the commercially valuable fish living in the shallow waters is growing 20 to 30 percent faster, compared to what they have been 50 years back to add to the fishing conveniences. This is revealed by analyzing the fish ear bones.
Tasmania, Australia-based Ronald Thresher, a fisheries biologist with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization said,
There’s no question that the shallow-water fish are tracking our local version of global climate warming.
The cause of the cooling trend is unclear. But analysis of deepwater corals suggests it has been going on for centuries and may be independent of global warming.
It’s not clear whether the phenomenon is good or bad for the overall marine ecology. However, it is said that the fish, which grow slowly, in cooler water stay juveniles longer. Thus, they are weaker and more susceptible to predation and starvation. This in turn may reduce their productivity.