Kochi, Nov 4 Rising ocean temperatures, marine heatwaves, shifting fish populations, coral bleaching and algal blooms are disrupting marine ecosystems and posing mounting challenges to fisheries and coastal livelihoods, scientists have warned.
Speaking on the opening day of the international TREVOR SAFARI (Societal Applications in Fisheries and Aquaculture using Remote Sensing Imagery) symposium here, they called for an integrated approach involving diverse areas of expertise to monitor rapidly changing ocean conditions.
The three-day symposium, hosted by the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), has brought together more than 300 participants from 30 countries, including fisheries scientists, climate and remote sensing experts, and oceanographers, according to a statement issued on Wednesday.
The experts underscored the need to integrate satellite remote sensing, oceanographic observations, climate models, artificial intelligence and in-situ data to better understand physical and biological changes in marine ecosystems and provide timely advisories and early warnings.
Inaugurating the symposium, Dr Sophie Seeyavae, CEO of the Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean (POGO), UK, said technological innovation was essential to developing accurate potential fishing zone advisories, detecting harmful algal blooms, forecasting marine heatwaves and providing reliable weather and sea-condition alerts to fishing communities.
Emphasising the need to expand ocean-observation capabilities, she said building expertise in this area would help strengthen climate resilience, water-quality monitoring and fisheries management.
“POGO has trained nearly 1,500 early-career ocean scientists from 102 countries to strengthen ocean observation globally,” Dr Seeyavae said.
Highlighting the impact of climate change, John A Gittings of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, presented research showing that extreme climate events, including marine heatwaves, were driving unusual changes in marine productivity across the world’s oceans.
“The frequency of extreme events, including storms, droughts, wildfires and heatwaves, has increased in recent decades, leading to changes in the physiology, abundance, geographical distribution and community structure of marine organisms,” he said, adding that continuous monitoring was necessary to detect significant changes in ocean conditions.
Experts suggested that integrating ocean observations with weather forecasts, wave conditions and ocean-current patterns could strengthen safety advisories for fishing communities.
The symposium is jointly organised by the Department of Chemical Oceanography of the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), the Trevor Platt Science Foundation, CMFRI and the Marine Biological Association of India.
CUSAT Vice-Chancellor Dr M Junaid Bushiri presided over the inaugural function.
Dr N Aparna, Deputy Director of the National Remote Sensing Centre under ISRO, said India’s advanced ocean-observation satellites were strengthening the monitoring of marine ecosystems.
Satellite imagery was helping scientists track El Niño, detect algal blooms and assess ocean productivity, she said.
The application of India’s Ocean Colour Monitor-3 (OCM-3) onboard EOS-06 (Oceansat-3) was helping identify potential fishing zones, Aparna said.
The application could also help track changes in chlorophyll-a concentration, an important indicator of ocean productivity.
She further said fish catches in potential fishing zones identified through advisories generated using the application were found to be 1.5 to four times higher than those in areas outside the recommended zones, according to the CMFRI statement.
(PTI News)
