jordansu's Flickr photostream/Creative Commons

Climate change is expected to shift fish populations from tropical regions toward the North and South poles, according to a new study published in the journal Global Change Biology.  Oddly the report did not predict that warming would necessarily change the amount of fish in the oceans over the next 50 years. Even if that’s not the case (which it likely is), we’re doing a pretty good job decimating marine populations with overfishing and pollution.

The study used a computer model to analyze environmental factors and other data on 1,066 fish species typically caught by commercial fisheries, ranging from sharks to shrimp-like creatures at the bottom of the food chain.  According to the New York Times:

“Countries like China, Chile, Indonesia and the United States (excepting Alaska and Hawaii) will see catches decline, while catches off Alaska, Greenland, Norway and Russia will rise.”

This report confirms an earlier study about the marine migrations, which I wrote about in February, and unless we start taking serious action to combat climate change, more grim reports are sure to roll in with increasingly bad news for our oceans.  Use the action links below to find out what you can do to combat climate change and choose sustainably caught fish.