Research On Influence Of Arctic Fishery Resources Responding To Globe Climate Change

With the accelerating of globe warming, the Arctic sea ice coverage decreases year by year. A growing number of international organizations and scientists start to research in the Arctic. Under the background of globe recession of marine fishery resources, the development and reasonable utilization of fishery resources has drawn great attention of many countries. Due to the terrible geographical conditions, there are fewer species and resources of marine fish in the Arctic area, compared to other waters. However, the melting of the Arctic ice makes the development and utilization of the Arctic fish resources possible. As a result, the fish resources of the Arctic which haven’t been exploited received a high degree of concern from more and more related countries and regions. During the past decades, high seawater temperature, rising sea level and sea ice reduction aroused by globe climate change, not only have a direct effect on the species and the temporal and spatial distribution of the Arctic fishery resources, but also indirectly influence its pattern by affecting ocean current, Arctic Oscillation and ozone layer, etc. Climate change’s influence on the structure and quantity of Arctic fishery resources is irreversible, covering a very wide range. Both domestic and foreign related documents and FAO CATCH statistics are collected in this essay to research the Arctic fishery varieties, the distribution of marine resources, and utilization of resources in the Arctic waters. On the other hand, the study of major climate changes that influence the Arctic fishery resources together with oceanic environmental changes, are also discussed. By analyzing how climate changes make differences on the Arctic fishery resources, strategies to protect the resources could be proposed. The main conclusions are shown below.(1). The Arctic fishing areas are mainly divided into No.18(the Arctic Ocean), NO.21(the Northwest Atlantic) and NO.27(the Northeast Atlantic) fishing area. According to FAO’s CATCH statistics, from 1950 to 2012, the primary economic fish species in the Arctic areas include Gadus morhua, Salmo salar Linnaeus, Scomber scombrus, Melanogrammus aeglefinus, Boreogadus saida and so on. Cephalopods, which mainly lived in the Greenland Sea, the Norway Sea and the Barents Sea, add up to 14 genera, 26 families, about 43 species, belonging to Sepioidea, Teuthoidea, and Order Octopoda. The volume of Gonatus fabricii is the highest, but they haven’t been exploited commercially for the moment. The Arctic fishery resources are mainly obtained by countries around the North Pole, in addition to the UK, Germany, Spain, and Japan. In 1976, the amount of fishing in the Arctic Sea reached its maximum, 15.1 million tons, occupying 24.8% of the globe volume. Till then, the average amount in this area is approximately 11.08 million tons.(2). The CATCH statistics of NO.27 fishing area is analyzed in accordance with the time series, which included indexes like mTL, FIB and LP of the 293 developed fishing gains. It is found that the Northeast Arctic’s mTL decreased from 3.71 in 1950 to 3.57 in 2012, about 0.02TL(rs=0.397; P<0.01) each year. Moreover, FIB was decreasing consecutively during the past 8 years. The LP analysis describes 6 periods, the components of fishing gains varying remarkably from each other. Traditional kinds of fish(such as whiting and Boreogadus) declined notably, while Crustaceans(like Cancer Pagurus) and Mollusk(like King scallop Pecten maximus) increased greatly. Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the mTL of the Northeast Arctic is closely related with climate changes such as sea surface temperature rise, North Atlantic Oscillation and sea ice reduction, etc. Notice that all high CATCH values appeared in the years when sea surface temperature is abnormal, like 1956, 1976 and 1997. During the past decades, cold water species gradually reduced, while warm water species grew step by step. From 1973 to 1995, with North Atlantic Oscillation strong, the CATCH of blue whiting rose little by little, and in 1980 reached its highest value. Reduction in Arctic sea ice cover has an impact on fisheries resources for following evidence. The Arctic sea ice reduced very slowly from 1979 to 1997. However, after 1997, it decreased rapidly, with the production of Sharpsnout Plano and Sebastes norvegicus meeting a sudden increase from 1998. This phenomenon shown that reduction of sea ice is benefit for their growing.(3). Analysis is made from three aspects. They are: climate indexes, such as AMO, AO and NAO during 1950 to 2012; environmental indexes, such as sea ice range, sea surface temperature, and sea surface salinity from 1998 to 2012; the Northeast Arctic CATCH and its components from 1998 to 2012. It is concluded that CATCH, mTL, FIB and PPR are different from each other in terms of relations with climate indexes. CATCH, mTL, and FIB have high correlation with AMO. CATCH have lead-lag relationships with NAO. Climate indexes decreases have greater influence on CATCH than their increases do. The Northeast Arctic CATCH components are closely linked with ocean environment changes. The capacity of effect is sea ice range> sea surface salinity> ocean flow velocity> sea surface temperature> chlorophyll concentration> sea surface height. The correlation coefficient of sea ice range is up to 67.9%. Marine species affected considerably by Arctic ice range are: Havedock, Bamboo Fish, Pandalus Borealis, Reinhardtius Hippoglossoides, and Cancer Pagurus. The species influenced greatly by sea surface salinity are Pollack, European Bird Tail Clam, Molva Molva, Jin Pingyou, and King Scallop Pecten Maximus. In addition, cool CATCH and warm CATCH in the Northeast Arctic are evidently impacted by sea surface temperature and ocean flow velocity. CATCHs of different eating patterns are affected by sea ice range and ocean salinity than by others. Sea ice range also acts on water distribution, trophic level, and CATCH.