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Economically Important Fish and Other Sea Creatures are Shrinking

Louisiana Sea Grant College Program Louisiana State University / flickr.com
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Frozen Menhaden

New research suggests an economically important fish is shrinking due to the rising temperatures of the ocean. Louisiana State University Boyd Professor Eugene Turner says the Menhaden, a small silver fish, make up half of the US commercial fish harvest by weight, and they have reduced in size by about 15 percent over the past 65 years. He says there is less oxygen in warmer water.

Turner says this trend is occurring with other sea life too, and the data shows a decline in annual eight and length among 3,4 and 5-year-old fish.

Turner says Menhaden had a dockside value of about $129 million dollars in 2013, and that dollar amount will continue to go down the smaller the fish get. He says they don’t see the trend changing if the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans continue to warm.