The warming of the world's oceans is spreading dangerous diseases and
affecting fish stocks and crop yields, a major new report has said.
Conservationists
warned the world is "completely unprepared for" the impacts of warming
oceans on wildlife, natural systems and humans, some of which are
already being felt.
Even with action to significantly reduce the
greenhouse gas emissions which are causing ocean warming, there will
still be a high risk of impacts, according to the report launched by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
IUCN
director general Inger Andersen said: "Ocean warming is one of this
generation's greatest hidden challenges - and one for which we are
completely unprepared.
"The only way to preserve the rich
diversity of marine life, and to safeguard the protection and resources
the ocean provides us with, is to cut greenhouse gas emissions rapidly
and substantially."
As part of the report, findings from University of Plymouth
professors Camille Parmesan and Martin Attrill show that marine-related
tropical diseases and harmful algal blooms are spreading to colder
regions for the first time.
Outbreaks of Vibrio vulnificus, a
relation of the bacteria causing cholera and which causes death in
between 30 per cent and 48 per cent of cases, have been newly diagnosed
further north than previously recorded.
The disease has
previously been a problem in warm waters such as the Gulf of Mexico
where mostly it has been contracted by eating infected oysters, but
cases have recently occurred in the Baltic and Alaska, the report warns.
Warming sea surface temperatures in fishing grounds can also cause toxins from algal blooms to enter the food chain.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11704816
No comments:
Post a Comment