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 Springtime plankton blooms off the coast of northern New England
were well below average this year, leading to the lowest levels ever
seen for the tiny organisms that are essential to maintaining
balance in the ocean food chain, said Kevin Friedland, a marine
scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The absence of the normal surge of plankton in the spring is a
concern because that's when cod and haddock and many other species
produce offspring, Friedland said.
The spring surge also provides the foundation for normally abundant
zooplankton levels that have made waters from the Middle Atlantic to
New England productive for centuries.
"The first six months of 2013 can be characterized by new extremes
in the physical and biological environment," Friedland said from his
office in Rhode Island.
The findings come after temperatures off the Northeast U.S. hit an
all-time high in 2012.
This year, sea surface temperatures moderated during the first six
months from the Middle Atlantic to the Gulf of Maine and Georges
Bank, declining nearly 2 degrees but remaining the third warmest on
record, Friedland said. The data was not uniform, with more cooling
in the Middle Atlantic, compared to the North Atlantic, he said.
The data remains in line with an overall warming of the ocean, with
data pointing toward spring warming happening a couple of weeks
earlier than normal for the past seven years.
Friedland said NOAA scientists believe the changed timing of the
warming events have affected plant and animal reproduction.
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The warming ocean worries many fishermen in the North Atlantic.
Warm water was blamed for lobsters shedding their shells far earlier
than usual in 2012, leading to a glut that caused prices to plummet
and created turmoil in the industry in Maine and Canada. Fishermen
across New England also have reported finding fish in their nets
that are normally found far to the south.
Bob Nudd, a lobsterman in New Hampshire, said he's seeing plenty of
black sea bass, a species that he used to see only occasionally. At
the same time, he's also seeing more shell disease in lobster,
something many lobster fishermen blame on the warmer temperatures
recorded over the past few years.
"I'm not a scientist and I don't know how much temperature change it
takes to change the system, but I don't think it's much. And we're
definitely seeing a warming trend," said Nudd, 66, who fishes in
Hampton, N.H. "Things are not going to be the way they were in the
past. That's about all I can say about that."
[Associated
Press; DAVID SHARP]
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