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New projections highlight potential climate risks to exploitable fish stocks for nearly all regions of the world's ocean, including top producer countries and those that rely heavily on aquatic foods, according to a report by international scholars and released today by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The projections show declines of more than 10 per cent by mid-century, particularly under a high-emissions scenario, for many regions of the world, states the report Climate change risks to marine ecosystems and fisheries: Projections to 2100 from the Fisheries and Marine Ecosystem Model Intercomparison Project.

Dalhousie University Biology professor Derek Tittensor participated in the research, which found that by the end of the century, declines worsen to 30 per cent or greater in 48 countries and territories under the high-emissions scenario, which projects global warming of 3 to 4 C degrees.

In contrast, under the low-emissions scenario, which projects global warming of 1.5 to 2 C degrees, changes stabilize between no change and a decrease of 10 per cent or less across 178 countries and territories by the end of the century.

The report was produced by the Fisheries and Marine Ecosystem Model Intercomparison Project (FishMIP), an international network of researchers working with FAO to understand the long-term impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems and fisheries through a set of state-of-the-art numerical models. It was released during the 36th session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI36) held from July 8 to 12, 2024 at FAO headquarters in Rome.

Dr. Tittensor is available to discuss the findings and how a comparison of the losses projected under both scenarios by the end of the century reveals that lowering emissions has marked benefits for nearly all countries and territories.

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Media contacts:

Alison Auld
Senior Research Reporter
Communications, Marketing and Creative Services
Dalhousie University
Cell: 1-902-220-0491
Email: alison.auld@dal.ca

FAO: FAO-Newsroom@fao.org