On August 30th, 2023, a new study published in Nature reported our years-long investigation into marine heatwaves impacts on demersal fishes. This study was led by Dr. Alexa Fredston during her time as a postdoctoral associate in the Global Change Research Group and includes several group members (Zoë, Aurore and Malin). Using the scientific trawl dataset assembled by the FISHGLOB collaboration, the research found many “silent” heatwaves that had little to no impact on fishes.
Freston et al. (2023) found no substantial evidence of general effects associated with marine heatwave events. This study comes as a contrast to comparable studies with varying marine study systems, such as coral, where it has been reported that marine heatwaves can play a significant role in coral bleaching.
The article can be found below:
Mark Payne also wrote a helpful commentary explaining the significance of the paper: Rethinking the effect of marine heatwaves on fish
Press covered included:
- Rutgers press release: Coastal Fisheries Show Surprising Resilience to Marine Heat Waves
- UCSC press release: Coastal fisheries show surprising resilience to marine heatwaves
- UBC press release: Fish buffered from recent marine heatwaves, showing there’s still time to act on climate change
- Le Figaro
- Agence France-Presse
- BBC Science in Action radio (starts at 7 min)
- Deutschlandfunk (podcast)
- Axios
- La Presse (Canada)
- Weekendavisen (Denmark)
- Global Seafood Alliance
- Globe and Mail (Canada)
- Vancouver Sun(Canada)
- National Post (Canada)
- The Toronto Star (Canada)
- The Province (Canada)
- earth.com
- The Hill
- Powell River Now
- Comox Valley Now
- Coast Now
- Campbell River Now