Latest news with #octopus
Japan Times
15 hours ago
- Business
- Japan Times
Octopus invasion in English Channel flags marine heat wave risks
Some English fisherman have hit the jackpot this season, hauling in tons of octopus, but the invasion of eight-legged molluscs also highlights the threat from marine heat waves. Persistent high-pressure weather patterns this spring accelerated the heating of an already unusually warm north Atlantic, blocking cooling westerly winds and smothering currents that stir up colder water layers deep in the ocean, said Paul Moore, a climatologist with Ireland's Met Eireann. Sea surface temperatures west of Ireland soared 4 degrees Celsius above normal in May, with waters near the U.K. rising by as much as 2.5 C to the highest on record, according to the U.K. Met Office. Those warmer waters have suited the octopus but when one part of the natural ecosystem changes, there can be knock on effects. The surge in octopus has come at the expense of the shellfish populations they prey on. For now, Neil Watson, whose firm operates out of Brixham Fish Market on the English Channel, has been one of the winners. "They're pulling up the crab pots and it's just a happy octopus and a load of shells where he's had his lunch,' said Watson, after his boats unloaded 48 tons of octopus on May 27, a 240-fold jump on the previous year. "I've never seen what I'm seeing today.' Other beneficiaries of the warm seas include jellyfish and sea bass, but it's hurting cod — a traditional staple of British fish and chips. And crucially, it's also hitting plankton, the foundation of marine food chains, said Georg Engelhard, a senior marine scientist at the U.K.'s Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science. A recent shift in weather has brought more low pressure systems and unsettled conditions, lowering ocean temperatures from their highs. But the sea remains warmer than the norm, increasing the chances that the marine heat wave will worsen toward a summer peak in August, said Met Eireann's Moore. "It won't take much to push it up again over the next few months,' he said. Further high-pressure systems — which brought onshore temperature records, drought and slumping generation from wind turbines earlier this year — are forecast over the summer. The heating from those short-term weather patterns is occurring on top of global warming, which is raising ocean temperatures and intensifying marine heat waves. While Brixham Trawling Agents is enjoying the octopus boom — getting good prices from major European seafood buyers — Watson is concerned about the long-term damage to fisheries. Warmers seas are changing migration patterns and ensuring higher survival rates among octopus eggs and larvae, said Engelhard. But the plummeting shellfish numbers shows the uneven impact on the ocean, he added. "It's just quite unprecedented,' he said. The threat posed by marine heat waves goes beyond winners and losers among ocean species. They can trigger algae blooms that starve waters of oxygen, creating "dead zones' with mass fish die-offs. It can also boost toxins and other pathogens, which can sicken humans too. "That can impact the beaches, whether people go swimming or because it affects things like mussels and oysters that we would like to eat,' Engelhard said.
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Climate
- Bloomberg
Burning Roads, Invading Octopus Signal a Hot Summer Ahead
Today's newsletter looks at the summer ahead for the Northern Hemisphere and all of the troubling, surprising and weird impacts climate change is creating. Read on or get the full story on baking highways, new employee heat laws and a British octopus invasion on For unlimited access to climate and energy news, please subscribe. By Joe Wertz
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Fishermen's fury as 'disaster' octopus invasion destroys their catch thanks to woke rule allowing predators to 'treat them like McDonald's
Fishermen say their livelihoods are under threat from a woke rule that allows invading hordes of octopus to eat their entire catch - just a week after they were sold out by Keir Starmer 's new EU fishing deal. Conservation rules have meant fishermen in Plymouth, Devon, have to leave small escape gaps in their pots to let undersized lobster and crab to go free. But unseasonably warm waters have seen thousands of Octopus Vulgaris - a highly efficient predator - head north from the Mediterranean. They eat all types of shellfish but their favourite meal is crab which has proved devastating for Claire Tapper, owner of family-run Cracking Crab. She told MailOnline: 'It has been bad, really bad. The worst I've ever seen it. 'We've not seen any crab in two months and we're thinking of packing it all in. 'We run two boats which used to bring in 14 60kg bins full of crab every day, now we're lucky if it's a couple of bins a week. 'The boats haven't gone out today, it's not worth it.' Once inside the pots the octopus devour all the crab then escape through the exit hole - by comparison Cornish fishermen don't have to leave an exit and can keep and sell the cephalopods which are a popular meal in mainland Europe. Last week, following mounting pressure, the Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (D&S IFCA) clarified that Devon fishermen can close the entrance if they are fishing for octopus which can currently squeeze back out once they've eaten the crab. But Ms Tapper who has run the business with her husband and children for eight years and supplies local restaurants said the damage may have already been done with predatory octopus killing off juvenile crabs, potentially damaging the industry for years. 'If they have eaten the juveniles, that's it because where do the new stocks come from?' she added. 'It's just another kick in the teeth after the new EU fishing deal last week. 'It's sad to see because this used to be a thriving industry in Plymouth but in a few years this area could all be flats.' A Plymouth fisherman who didn't want to be named said: 'We are down about 80% on crab because of the octopus which is thousands of pounds every month' Another Plymouth fisherman who didn't want to be named said: 'We are down about 80% on crab because of the octopus which is thousands of pounds every month. 'In Plymouth we have to have an escape hatch but Cornwall doesn't. 'We don't see a lot of the octopus but you can tell they have been because there is no crab left.' Fishermen contacted Plymouth City Council's leader, Tudor Evans, urging him to save the city's vital fishing industry. He said the rule was 'now doing more harm than good' as fishermen in other areas were able to retain and sell the octopus they catch, adding 'but here, our pots are being raided and left empty — and our fishers are left with nothing.' Plymouth fisherman Brian Tapper said: 'The octopuses are ruining us. 'They're coming in the side hatch – it's like McDonald's for them. 'They are just sitting in there until they're full. They'll go through 50 pots eating lobsters, crabs and even scallops. By the time we come along, there's nothing left.' Barry Young, of Brixham Trawler Agents, said the octopuses were 'decimating the crab fishery', although boats targeting them were enjoying a bonanza, with more than 27,000kg of the cephalopods landed at Brixham on a single morning last week. Pot escape hatches are mandatory under a by-law imposed by the Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (D&SIFCA). It will consider next month whether permit rules can be eased. In a statement, the authority said it was aware of 'significant difficulties being experienced by the fishing industry… in respect of predation by octopus'. It added: 'Fishers are reporting that the entry and exit to pots may be through escape gaps fitted in pots. D&SIFCA is aware that this is having an impact on fishers' catches of shellfish and their livelihoods.' Last Monday Labour PM Keir Starmer paraded a UK-EU reset deal which included new arrangements over trade, defence and travel. But fishermen were outraged at a 12-year extension to a post-Brexit agreement that allows boats from EU countries to fish in British waters. Fishermen accused Starmer of selling them out in order to boost trade and defence ties.
Bloomberg
5 days ago
- Climate
- Bloomberg
Octopus Invasion in English Channel Flags Marine Heat Wave Risks
Some English fisherman have hit the jackpot this season, hauling in tons of octopus, but the invasion of eight-legged molluscs also highlights the threat from marine heat waves. Persistent high-pressure weather patterns this spring accelerated the heating of an already unusually warm north Atlantic, blocking cooling westerly winds and smothering currents that stir up colder water layers deep in the ocean, said Paul Moore, a climatologist with Ireland's Met Éireann.
Sky News
27-05-2025
- Business
- Sky News
Boom or bust for fishing industry as octopuses swarm in UK waters?
Regulators are due to meet fishing industry representatives on Wednesday as the sector grapples with an "explosion" of octopus in British waters. Fishers along England's southwest coast have noticed a boom in the numbers and size of common octopus in the last few months. "As of February this year, there was just a massive explosion in the population of octopus," said Alan Steer, a crab fisher based in Devon. "We went from catching nothing to catching 1,000 kilograms a day," with each cephalopod weighing between 2.5-3.5kg, he told Sky News. The octopus is a valuable catch, fetching more at the fish market than the crab that many local fleets are designed to fish for. And it's just as well, because the eight-limbed creatures are also devouring local crab and lobster species, leaving some fishers empty-handed. "Since the octopus have turned up now, we are seeing massive devastation to the crab and lobster and scallop stocks in the pots," he said, with just empty crab and lobster shells rattling around inside. He reckons his crab and lobster catches are down by about 70%. More research needed The common octopus has long been present in British waters, but scientists say more research is needed to understand the causes of the recent bloom. It could be due to warmer waters or that there are fewer predators like tuna, cod, and sharks. The octopus can creep in and out of the pots through small openings designed to allow small crabs and lobsters to escape, a conservation measure to maintain the populations. But the boon for those cashing in on the octopus may be short-lived. Previous "blooms" of octopus, recorded in 1899, 1950 and 2022, saw the animals stick around for a season or two, before disappearing in cold winters. It can then take crab and lobster stocks three or four years to recover, Mr Steer told Sky News. "It's good at the minute... but our real concern is this is another cycle that we've seen in the past and they will disappear along with any crab fishery that was already there." In the meantime, the conservation body that enforces the escape hatch rule has come with a workaround. The Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA) said the escape holes can be closed off if fishers were trying to catch octopus only, in which case they'd have to throw any other catch back into the sea. Sarah Clark, its deputy chief officer, told Sky News the influx was a "concern". She said: "We're going to be trying to gather as much information about octopus and what we do in the next coming months, years, if the octopus fishery remains within the South West. And that's obviously a big 'if', because we don't know if the octopus will be here again next year." On Wednesday, they will meet government regulator the Marine Management Organisation and the fishing industry, to find out what support fishers need. A series of meetings are focussing on collecting data, the impact on other species and how to determine whether the octopus are here to stay. Dr Zoe Jacobs, from the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), said the recent "marine heatwave", which has seen water temperatures 2.3C higher than average, might be behind the reported early sightings of barrel jellyfish, increased numbers of seabass and pods of dolphins spotted in shallow inshore regions.
