Satellite Observations Are Needed to Understand Ocean Acidification and Multi-Stressor Impacts on Fish Stocks in a Changing Arctic Ocean

Hannah L Green,Hannah L Green,Richard G J Bellerby,Helen S Findlay,Peter E Land,Jamie D Shutler

doi:10.3389/fmars.2021.635797

Hannah L Green, Hannah L Green + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.635797

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Abstract

It is widely projected that under future climate scenarios the economic importance of Arctic Ocean fish stocks will increase. The Arctic Ocean is especially vulnerable to ocean acidification and already experiences low pH levels not projected to occur on a global scale until 2100. This paper outlines how ocean acidification must be considered with other potential stressors to accurately predict movement of fish stocks toward, and within, the Arctic and to inform future fish stock management strategies. First, we review the literature on ocean acidification impacts on fish, next we identify the main obstacles that currently preclude ocean acidification from Arctic fish stock projections. Finally, we provide a roadmap to describe how satellite observations can be used to address these gaps: improve knowledge, inform experimental studies, provide regional assessments of vulnerabilities, and implement appropriate management strategies. This roadmap sets out three inter-linked research priorities: (1) Establish organisms and ecosystem physiochemical baselines by increasing the coverage of Arctic physicochemical observations in both space and time; (2) Understand the variability of all stressors in space and time; (3) Map life histories and fish stocks against satellite-derived observations of stressors.

Highlights

Models project that anthropogenic warming will increase the importance of the Arctic Ocean for supporting economically valuable fish stocks as marine species exploit new ranges and move northwards to remain in their thermal niches or as stock sizes increase (Lam et al, 2014; Cheung et al, 2015; Wisz et al, 2015)
Each year the ocean absorbs upwards of 25% of the anthropogenic CO2 emissions (Friedlingstein et al, 2019; Watson et al, 2020), which has resulted in a 30% increase in hydrogen ion concentration since the industrial revolution
The remote and often hostile nature of the Arctic Ocean means collecting in situ data can be costly and challenging; this results in most data sets having a high seasonal bias toward the summer with little data collected under or around multiyear sea ice and/or during winter (Steiner et al, 2014)

Summary

Introduction

Models project that anthropogenic warming will increase the importance of the Arctic Ocean for supporting economically valuable fish stocks as marine species exploit new ranges and move northwards to remain in their thermal niches or as stock sizes increase (Lam et al, 2014; Cheung et al, 2015; Wisz et al, 2015). The Arctic Ocean is susceptible to Ocean acidification (OA), and it is currently unknown how OA will manifest on these northward moving populations. The remote and often hostile nature of the Arctic Ocean means collecting in situ data can be costly and challenging; this results in most data sets having a high seasonal bias toward the summer with little data collected under or around multiyear sea ice and/or during winter (Steiner et al, 2014)

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