Farmed seafood supply at risk if climate change goes unaddressed, study predicts

Farmed seafood supply at risk if climate change goes unaddressed, study predicts

Source: upi

12/13/2021

Supplies of farmed seafood such as salmon and mussels are projected to drop 16% globally by 2090 if no action is taken to address climate change, a study published Monday by the journal Global Change Biology predicted.

If fossil fuels continue to be burned at their current rates, the amount of seafood able to be farmed sustainably will increase by 8% by 2050 before declining by 16% over the next 40 years, the data showed.

Conversely, in a low-emissions scenario in which action is taken to mitigate climate change, farmed seafood supplies could grow by about 17% by the mid-21st century and by about 33% by the end of the century, compared with the 2000s, the researchers said.

The findings are significant given that ocean-farmed seafood, or mariculture, is often seen as a potential solution to the problems of depleted stocks of wild fish and growing human demand, they said.