Sea temperatures (click to enlarge)

For centuries the vastness of the oceans prevented the oceans and their communities from significant human interference. The major use of the sea was as a source of food, although the early range of ships and equipment meant the effects of fishing were not seen. The 20th century and the explosion of technology have enabled humans to penetrate virtually all parts of the oceans. The increasing human population and sophisticated technology has had a significant effect on the ecology of the world’s oceans. The graph opposite shows how sea temperatures have risen in the last 100 years. Are our actionst to blame?

 

In recent years there has been declines in all types of fish stocks of types all over the world. This has been attributed to theover exploitation of the worlds fish stocks. Since 1972, fishery catches have increased steadily to cope with the increasing demand for seafood. Look at the graph opposite, you can see that fishery catches have increased in the past 100years.

Changes in fishery catch (click to enlarge)

How do we monitor the seas?

SAHFOS is responsible for running the Continuous Plankton Recorder survey, which collects plankton data from the North Atlantic, North Sea and now the North Pacific. We have over 70 years of data and it is this long-term data set which enables SAHFOS researchers and other scientists to examine the changes occurring in the oceans.
Plankton are at the start of almost all marine food chains and they are very sensitive to changing environmental conditions, which means they make excellent biological indicators. Over the last decade SAHFOS researchers have witnessed many changes in the plankton communities of the North Atlantic and the North Sea. Our data is supplied to marine scientists who work on other marine life and similar changes in communities are being seen further up the food chain.
The CPR data is extremely important in a world where human induced effects are thought to be accelerating.

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