Thursday February 26, 2026
Phys —
According to a new study by the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN-CSIC) and the National University of Colombia, chronic ocean warming is driving a nearly 20% annual decline in fish biomass. However, the researchers have found that extreme marine heat waves can sometimes mask this trend by causing temporary population increases in certain areas. The work appears in Nature Ecology & Evolution.
The research, conducted in the waters of the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic, and the Northeastern Pacific, is based on the analysis of 702,037 estimates of biomass change from 33,990 fish populations recorded between 1993 and 2021 in the Northern Hemisphere. The collected data are essential for fisheries management and for the conservation of marine ecosystems, which are crucial for feeding the global population.