It’s a source of beauty, and it's also a vital source of food. Our oceans supply about 17% of the world’s protein. But, an international study led by a UC Santa Barbara researcher shows that environmental change may be creating an extraordinary threat to global aquaculture.
"We've been focusing on so-called blue foods, from freshwater and marine systems, trying to understand whether that food is at-risk in the future," said Dr. Ben Halpern, who is is one the lead authors of the new study. The UC Santa Barbara professor is Director of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis.
Halpern said more than 90% of the blue food production is at risk. The researchers looked at 17 factors contributing to the crisis.
"We really wanted to be as comprehensive as possible," said Halpern. "It includes things like climate change, increasing temperatures, extreme weather events, and sea level rise."
While some countries are much more reliant than others on our oceans for food, the researcher said it’s clear we are facing a global issue.
Halpern said some of the most at-risk countries include Guatemala and Honduras, which are facing some of the most significant environmental changes, yet are least equipped to deal with how it will impact their aquaculture.
While the U.S. is high on the risk factor list, our food supply locally is less reliant on the ocean, and we are in better shape than many other areas.
"Our seafood is really well managed, or waters are relatively unpolluted, and for now, we haven't experienced a lot of climate change impacts," said Halpern. He noted that aquaculture is limited in the region.
Halpern believes what they found should be a global wakeup call.
"We hope that this does bring greater attention to the need to think about mitigating these pressures," said Halpern. "This is yet another reason that we need to move fast to solutions to climate change."
The new study was just published in the scientific journal Nature Sustainability.
