Adaptation Actions for a Changing Arctic: Perspectives from the Barents Area
134
Adaptation Actions for a Changing Arctic: Perspectives from the Barents Area
ecosystem of the Barents Sea will exhibit borealization with northward shifts in species over the next few decades. These changes are overlaid by impacts from the oil and gas industry, shipping, and fisheries with further consequences for the fisheries and aquaculture sectors (Sections 6.3.1.4 and 6.3.1.6). 6.2.2.2 Impacts of non-climatic factors A wide range of industrial sectors are represented in the Barents Sea region, including fisheries, oil and gas production, mining, and shipping (see Chapters 2 and 4, and Section 6.3). Fish products are a major source of animal protein for a significant fraction of the world’s population, and large-scale oil and gas development, new mining, and the promotion of the Northern Sea Route as a major transcontinental shipping lane reflect the growing needs of a rising world population and increased energy requirements. The Barents Sea ecosystem has been strongly influenced by fishing (Figure 6.5) and the hunting of marine mammals. More recent human activities include transportation of goods, oil and gas, tourism, and aquaculture. Interest is currently focused on the likely response of the Barents Sea
McKinney et al., 2013). Following the seasonally retreating ice edge with much open water north of Svalbard may also be associated with increased mortality, particularly of young cubs that are less able to endure long swims in cold water (Aars and Plumb, 2010; Pagano et al., 2012). Finally, most seabird species (see Chapter 2) are susceptible to changes in the marine ecosystem, including changes in prey availability related to ocean climate change, and it is likely that these changes will be even more significant in the future. An increase in boreal species and a decrease inArctic and subarctic species in Norwegian waters are anticipated. According to Fauchald et al. (2015), ecosystem specific changes, possibly initiated by past and present fisheries in combination with climate change, are the major indirect drivers of the observed seabird declines.While human impacts cannot alone explain the recent population declines,they are an important contributor to declining and threatened seabird populations and are therefore especially important to control (Box 6.2). Patterns of species change in the marine ecosystem are complex because different species are affected differently by warming waters and decreasing ice cover. It is expected that the marine
Human activities
Pressures
State
Selective extraction of species
Habitat
Fishing
Food webs
Abrasion
Productivity
Introduction of contaminating compounds
Plankton
Biodiversity
Maritime transport
Benthos
Death or injury by collision
Fish
Marine litter
Oil and gas production
Seabirds
Marine mammals
Substrate loss and smothering
Underwater noise
Activities and pressures on the ecosystem susceptible to regional management
Always vary (influenced by environmental drivers)
Figure 6.5 Overview of the major regional pressures, human activities, and state of the ecosystemwithin the Barents Sea. Line width indicates the relative importance of individual links (ICES, 2015b).
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online