Climate change to cause chaos in UK seas

Climate change will wreak havoc on the United Kingdom's marine environment, deepening the decline of cod, threatening the future survival of some sea bird colonies, and causing wide-scale coastal disruption, a new WWF report has found.

The report — Climate change: Plunging our Seas into Deeper Crisis — notes that an increase in sea surface temperature will be a major factor in further disrupting the breeding, feeding, and growing cycles of fish, and in turn sea birds. This will be spurred by impacts on plankton, the major food source of many fish and the foundation of the entire marine environment.

The report also found that major storm surges — temporary increases in sea level caused by atmospheric pressures and strong winds — will have destructive impacts on coastal areas as they become more frequent. Storm surges could cause flooding events in the east of England and in the London area. Sea level rise is also likely to reduce coastal habitats of sea birds through erosion and damage to nesting sites. Sandeels, a major food source for birds and fish, which breed in shallow sand banks, may also be affected.

"Our seas are already under severe pressure from a number of activities such as fishing, oil and gas exploration, and coastal development," said Andrew Lee, Director of Campaigns at WWF-UK.

"This report shows that climate change has the power to deepen this crisis and to completely turn our marine world upside down, disrupting and changing the entire ecosystem."

The North Sea, where plankton is reported to have already changed dramatically, is likely to be hit the hardest by climate change. This will have direct impacts on cod stocks, in addition to the existing pressures from fisheries, according to the report.

"This heightens the urgency for government action to both significantly reduce the UK's CO2 emissions and to bring forward a new Marine Bill, which will protect our marine wildlife and reform the way our seas are planned and managed to ensure they are economically productive and sustainable for future generations," Lee added.

The group of scientists who contributed to the report also highlighted ocean acidification as a major concern. The acidity (pH) of the sea has already reduced from 8.3 to 8.2 and is predicted to decline to 7.6 by the end of the century. This would be beyond any level of acidity experienced by current marine wildlife and is likely to impact corals, sea urchins and shell fish as well as breeding success of fish, such as cod.

Harbour porpoises and fin whales are most likely to be affected by climate change through the combined impacts of pollution and reduced food supply. This will threaten their breeding success, and in the case of harbour porpoises, this is likely to accelerate their decline.

"Climate change will cause dramatic disruption to our seas over the coming years," said Emily Lewis-Brown, WWF-UK's Marine Research Officer.

"Future planning of our marine environment must take into account the effects of climate change to help our seas adapt to the challenges that will come."

NOTES:

The British government has committed to introduce a Draft Marine Bill in this current session of Parliament. WWF has been campaigning for five years for this legislation, calling for the Bill to deliver more integrated planning and management for maritime industries, and putting the marine ecosystem at the heart of all future development decisions. WWF is also asking for the Bill to provide a representative network of Nationally Important Marine Sites which must include a series of Highly Protected Marine Reserves.

WWF's Climate Change campaign is calling on the power sector, the biggest single source of CO2 emissions in the UK and globally, to reduce its emissions by 60 per cent by 2020. It is also calling on the government to take action to meet its target to cut the UK's emissions by 20 per cent by 2010.

For further information:
Alison Wade, Senior Press Officer
WWF-UK
Tel: +44 1483 412388
E-Mail: awade@wwf.org.uk

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