Global warming could wipe fish and chips off the menu - experts claim
Researchers fear fish and chips could soon be wiped off menus around the world - thanks to global warming.
It’s because larger marine species, including cod and haddock, face extinction due to rising water temperatures and a drop in oxygen levels in our seas.
We’ve already been warned a no-deal brexit could lead to a chippy crisis but apparently an indepth research project has revealed the shortage could become permanent.
The findings were based on an analysis of different sized crustaceans found in in the Antarctic.
When the oxygen levels in the water was cut they got smaller - supporting the theory bigger sea creatures are more vulnerable to climate change.
Previous studies have suggested cod and haddock will shrink by up to a quarter by 2050.
Dr Simon Morley, an ecophysiologist with the British Antarctic Survey co-authored the report.
He said: "Marine animals thrive in the Southern Ocean but life in these freezing waters has led to the evolution of many distinct characteristics.
"These 'strategies', which allow animals to survive in the cold, are expected to make many Antarctic marine invertebrates and fish vulnerable to the impact of climate change.
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"Understanding these impacts will not only help us to predict the fate of marine biodiversity at the poles but will also teach us much about the mechanisms that will determine the survival of species across the world’s oceans."
The study, published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, suggests failure to control greenhouse gas emissions will have a greater impact on marine ecosystems than previously feared - Cornwall Live reports.
Co author Prof John Spicer, a marine zoologist at the University of Plymouth, has spent more than 30 years examining the effect of climate change on ocean organisms.
He said: "Over the last 50 years, the oxygen in our oceans has decreased by around two to five percent and this is already having an effect on species' ability to function.
"Unless they adapt, many larger marine invertebrates will either shrink in size of face extinction, which would have a profoundly negative impact on the ecosystems of which they are a part. This is obviously a major cause for concern."
Prof Spicer said it was one of the most important changes occurring in an ocean becoming increasingly modified by human activities - making the water warmer.
The gigantic animals of polar waters exist because more oxygen dissolves there than in the warmer seas of temperate and tropical regions.
As our ocean warms and oxygen decreases, it has been claimed this will have a greater impact on large marine invertebrates and fish.
