California's Shift to Warmer Coastal Waters Signals Fishery Impacts, Possible Drought Relief
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Monterey County Weekly] by Kera Abraham - May 28, 2015
More than 3,000 skinny sea lion pups have stranded on California beaches this year – apparently starving, according to experts with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, because coastal waters are unusually warm.
Warmer surface waters mean less productivity at the bottom of the food chain, which hits hard at the top, from salmon to seals.
NOAA’s 2015 State of the California Current Report finds warm “blobs” of surface water off Southern California and Alaska have now merged to cover most of the West Coast. Combine that with weak El Niño conditions and a shift in a long-term ...
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