December 10, 2014 — Climate change is expected to push some of Oregon’s most abundant fish species northward in the next 35 years, producing potentially damaging effects for Oregon’s commercial fisheries.
Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of British Columbia on Wednesday released a first of its kind look at future projections of species shift caused by warming oceans. They found that pelagic fish – those that tend to dwell closer to the ocean’s surface – will seek cooler waters as the southern end of their habitat heats up.
That means salmon and hake – two important commercial fish in Oregon – could begin to abandon the waters off Newport and Astoria, and become more abundant in places like the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea.
“If fishers want to stay with these fish, they’ll need to move farther north,” said Richard Brodeur, a Newport-based NOAA scientist who co-authored the study.
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