• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
Celebrating our 1,000th edition. The climate news you need
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  FEATURED
BREAKING: 40% of Fossil Fuels Now Under Development Must Stay in the Ground May 17, 2022
Rocky Mountain Glaciers ‘Past Tipping Point’, with Some Expected to Vanish by 2030 May 17, 2022
UK Activists Block Russian Oil Tanker From Docking in Essex May 17, 2022
EXCLUSIVE: Bid to Revive Doomed Nova Scotia LNG Project Collides with Germany’s Net-Zero Plans May 16, 2022
3,800 Residents Ordered to Evacuate after Flooding in Hay River, NWT May 16, 2022
Next
Prev
Home Climate News Network

Polar cod face new threat from Arctic oil pollution

June 2, 2021
Reading time: 3 minutes
Primary Author: Kieran Cooke

Hard to find

Hard to find

 

Already struggling to survive in warming Arctic seas, the polar cod are now at risk from rising oil pollution.

LONDON, 2 June, 2021 – They are small – on average around 25cm long. But polar cod (Boreogadus saida) are a vital part of the Arctic food chain, a major ingredient in the diet of seals, narwhals and a wide variety of seabirds.

The Arctic is warming faster than any other area on the planet, and a study published in 2020 found that declines in winter sea ice cover in the Barents Sea region of the Arctic, plus warmer sea temperatures, were causing declines in polar cod reproduction rates.

The latest research indicates that the polar cod is now under threat not only from warming Arctic seas, but because of oil pollution as well, as the region’s rapidly diminishing ice cover allows more shipping traffic and commercial activity.

Morgan Lizabeth Bender is a researcher in the department of Arctic and Marine Biology at the University of Tromsø (UiT) in northern Norway. Her research has found that when the polar cod is exposed to a combination of warmer waters and only very slight levels of oil pollution, its development is interrupted, with abnormalities common.

“Polar cod is a somewhat difficult species that hasn’t been researched that much,” Dr Bender told the Science Norway website. “The fish are a difficult species to find and to take care of in the lab. However, this species has a very important ecological role.”

“Increased water temperature can increase the harmful effects of oil exposure”

The fish, monitored during the breeding process, were sorted into aquariums – some at a current Arctic water temperature of 0.5°C, others at a warmer 2.8°C to mimic an Arctic affected by climate change.

The aquariums contained either pure water or water contaminated by minuscule amounts of crude oil. “The pollution level would be the equivalent of about five drops of oil in an Olympic-size swimming pool,” says Dr Bender.

Though the study found that polar cod eggs in the warmer water hatched much faster than those in the colder water, at first there was little difference between survival rates in the various aquariums.

But then something strange started happening to the fry – the young fish – that were exposed to oil.

“When they first hatched, there wasn’t much difference,” says Dr Bender. “But as their jaw, face and eyes started to develop, we saw very clearly that they weren’t forming properly.”

Lower survival rates

The research found that the fry were very sensitive to even the slightest amount of oil pollution: death rates were highest among fry exposed to both warmer water and oil.

When the fry became large enough to start feeding, only 8% survived in the contaminated warmer water and 23% in the contaminated cold water.

Marine scientists say that polar cod numbers have shown a downward trend since 2010, despite the fact that they are not a fished species.

Sonnich Meier, of the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research, has been examining the impact of both global warming and oil pollution on Arctic fish species for a number of years.

“Polar cod is one of the fish species that is hardest hit by climate change in the Arctic,” he says. “The study shows that increased water temperature can increase the harmful effects of oil exposure.” – Climate News Network



in Climate News Network

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Extreme temperatures are starting to rise to levels that are not only unprecedented but not even foreseen. Image: By Malachi Brooks on Unsplash 
Climate News Network

Smoke from wildfires kills thousands annually

September 24, 2021
62
Right whales − so-called
Climate News Network

Warming seas cut marine mammals’ survival chances

September 13, 2021
37
Corcovado
Climate News Network

Earth’s future ‘hinges on UN Glasgow climate talks’

September 10, 2021
26

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

MustangJoe/Pixabay

Newfoundland Opens New Round of Offshore Oil Bidding

May 19, 2022
278
John Englart

Australia’s Climate Election: Voters Kick Morrison to the Curb

May 23, 2022
259
@Olihorn1/Twitter

10 Dead, 300,000 Without Power as Sudden Storm Ravages Southern Ontario, Quebec

May 23, 2022
152
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/Energy/tarsands/

Alberta Fossils Log Emission Cuts by Exporting Them

May 23, 2022
104
Shutterstock

Greenhouse Gases Trap 49% More Heat than in 1990, NOAA Index Concludes

May 23, 2022
97
Can Pac Swire/flickr

Critics Pounce, HSBC Disavows Exec Who Cautions Against ‘Unsubstantiated, Shrill’ Climate Warnings

May 23, 2022
80

Recent Posts

Province of B.C./flickr

B.C. Eliminates ‘Broken’ Royalty System, Offers Fossils a ‘Money-Back Guarantee’

May 23, 2022
74
fda54 / Pixabay

ESG Investors Urge Livestock Industry to Diversify, Innovate to Dodge ‘Apollo 13 Moment’

May 23, 2022
60
/pxfuel

Study Finds ‘Ironic’ Link Between Reduced Pollution, More Hurricanes

May 23, 2022
73
Pexels/Pixabay

$8.5B in Debt Guarantees to Help South Africa Phase Out Coal

May 23, 2022
41
Asurnipal/wikimedia commons

Economic Opportunity, ‘Freedom’ Drive Red State Buy-In for Renewables

May 23, 2022
43
Wikimedia Commons

Bahamas to Offer ‘Blue Carbon’ Credits for Ecosystem Protection

May 23, 2022
67
Next Post
Several governments have now acknowledged how their civil and military nuclear programmes are linked. Image: By Steve Harvey on Unsplash

Nuclear industry’s propaganda war rages on

The Energy Mix

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}

2022 ONTARIO GENERAL ELECTION

KEEP UP WITH ONTARIO’S CLIMATE CHANGE ELECTION

election-checkmark
Get Election Notifications

2022 ONTARIO GENERAL ELECTION

KEEP UP WITH ONTARIO’S CLIMATE CHANGE ELECTION

election-checkmark
Get Election Notifications
The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

2022 ONTARIO GENERAL ELECTION

KEEP UP WITH ONTARIO’S CLIMATE CHANGE ELECTION

election-checkmark
Get Election Notifications

2022 ONTARIO GENERAL ELECTION

KEEP UP WITH ONTARIO’S CLIMATE CHANGE ELECTION

election-checkmark
Get Election Notifications
The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

2022 Ontario General Election

Keep up with Ontario’s Climate Change Election

election-checkmark
GET THE NEWS THAT MATTERS MOST

2022 Ontario General Election

Keep up with Ontario’s Climate Change Election

election-checkmark
GET THE NEWS THAT MATTERS MOST
The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

2022 Ontario General Election

Keep up with Ontario’s Climate Change Election

election-checkmark
GET THE NEWS THAT MATTERS MOST

2022 Ontario General Election

Keep up with Ontario’s Climate Change Election

election-checkmark
GET THE NEWS THAT MATTERS MOST
The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?