Climate Change Harming Sharks

Rising sea temperatures are seeing great white sharks swimming in waters they would have previously found too cold, which means the oceanic playground for these apex predators got a whole lot bigger.

It almost sounds like the plot for a new Jaws film, but climate change in the oceans now means its like ringing the dinnerbell for these sharks, feeding upon wildlife in new hunting grounds, which is having a devastating impact upon them.

Sea otters off Monteray Bay, in California, have been decimated, with numbers down of the protected species some 86% over the last six years, according to research released from the Monterary Bay Acquirium.

Great white sharks live in almost all coastal and offshore waters which have water temperature between 12 and 24 °C (54 and 75 °F),

This heating of the ocean has allowed young great white sharks to move a staggering 373 miles northwards off the coast of California since 2014. And they have stayed there ever since. It's like the ecosystem is changing in front of our very eyes.

And warmer waters don't just attract sharks, they attract people. But that doesn't mean more attacks, shark and shark attack awareness has never been higher and global shark attack figures remain low. Unless you are a sea otter that is SHARK ATTACK FILE 2020.

Not that sharks are the problem, the problem is climate change, the sharks are powerless to do anything about it. Hopefully, we are not.

“Nature has many ways to tell us the status quo is being disrupted, but it's up to us to listen,” said Monterey Bay Aquarium chief scientist Dr Kyle Van Houtan.

“These sharks - by venturing into territory where they have not historically been found - are telling us how the ocean is being affected by climate change.”

Words by Dean Newman

If you would like to write for The Daily Jaws, please visit our ‘work with us’ page

Follow The Daily Jaws on Facebook, Twitter, instagram & TikTok