The ocean has a fever, and it is saltier and more acidic; oysters and corals lack calcium, while fish change sex, mature early and fail to grow big

It is more accurate to call the planet we live on a "water ball" - the ocean covers three quarters of the Earth's surface. Its vast, boundless volume lets humans take and take, fishing boats grow bigger and bigger, and sewage trickles drop by drop into the sea. Paradoxically, the ocean is also so large that people turn a blind eye to it and find it hard to recognize the problems.

Climate change: the ocean has a fever and is also putting on weight

The U.S. Environmental Information Center confirmed that 2016 was the hottest year since the Second Industrial Revolution. When land is battered by torrential rain and extreme weather, the vast ocean, which faces an even greater threat, is often overlooked. This May at the Slow Fish event held in Genoa, Italy, special attention was paid to the impact of climate change on the ocean and fisheries.

Climate change has caused the rise and fall of civilizations. Will Mother Earth forgive humans?

The Little Ice Age from 1550 to 1700 froze Norway's traditional fishing grounds, and large numbers of herring swam south to the North Sea, allowing the Netherlands to "turn misfortune into a blessing" and lay the foundation for its maritime power. Climate change causing the rise and fall of civilizations has precedents in ancient times, so why should we care so much about warming issues now?

"Because past climate changes were caused by nature, while the culprit now is humans - we created the greenhouse gases. Such a rapid rise in temperature has only happened 125,000 years ago," Ferrara replied.

Research by NASA points out that as long as temperatures rise two degrees above the nineteenth century, that is enough to change the ecology of the Mediterranean. But as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, U.S. President Trump remains hesitant about the Paris Agreement, which supports the fight against climate change.

When reminding people to beware of nature striking back, Pope Francis said: "God always forgives, humans occasionally forgive, but Mother Earth never forgives." As for the god of the sea, will he forgive us?

Further reading

[Slow Fish linked series]

[Slow Fish linked series] When the ocean becomes plastic soup | Fish liver and intestinal lesions and tumors, plastic returns to the human food chain

Mackerel are overfished and getting smaller and smaller! What to do? Fisheries Agency: let the industry self-manage first

Hard clam crisis! Abnormal climate and polluted subsoil, Yunlin hard clam mortality rate 40%, Tainan also hit