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Rostock (dpa) - According to new research, climate change is disrupting development of herring larvae and thus leading to a decline in herring stocks in the western Baltic Sea.
"Our study also makes it clear that climate change is already having a significant economic impact," said Christopher Zimmermann, head of the Thünen Institute for Baltic Sea Fisheries.
Because of the shrinking population, the catch quotas in the western Baltic Sea have been reduced by 94 percent since 2017.
"That comes very close to closing the herring fishery."
For their research, the scientists have observed herring spawning in the Greifswalder Bodden and Strelasund for almost 30 years.
The Greifswalder Bodden is something like the nursery of the herring of the western Baltic Sea.
The researchers had found that the herring swim in the lagoon earlier due to weaker and delayed cold spells in the Baltic Sea.
Because of the higher temperatures, the larvae also developed faster and therefore hatched around 14 days earlier than 30 years ago.
The problem: after a few days they would have used up their yolk sac and needed different food.
This does not seem to be sufficient at this early stage, so that larvae starve to death.
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According to Zimmermann, stocks can still recover within five to six years if catches remain low.
A cold winter could accelerate the recovery, but is not in sight.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210128-99-210247 / 2
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