Experts Fear Marine Life May Be Hurt
Date: 97-09-07 12:17:08 EDT By CATALINA ORTIZ
MONTEREY, Calif. (AP) -
Fish experts fear that the weather phenomenon known as El Nino, now brewing in the Pacific Ocean, could devastate salmon and other species along the West Coast.
``We should really pay attention to this one because it looks like the El Nino of the century,'' said Jim Martin, a salmon expert in the Oregon governor's office.
Martin was among the 2,000 researchers and fisheries experts attending the American Fisheries Society's annual meeting Aug. 25 in Monterey. They were appalled to hear a federal weather forecaster warn that the latest El Nino is on track to be more severe than the one that hammered the West Coast 15 years ago.
Elbert Friday Jr., assistant administrator of the National Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, said the Pacific is warming at a faster rate than it did before the El Nino of 1982-83, which was considered the century's strongest.
And there are other threatening clues, including wind, the depth of the warm surface water and appearance of warm-water fish on the central California coast.
``(The signs) represent a very significant change in conditions that does indeed look like it will have the type of impact that will make '82-83 look smaller in comparison,'' Friday said.
Many in the audience of several hundred gasped or groaned when Friday displayed a chart comparing this year's El Nino with the one 15 years ago.
And that occurrence was bad enough; Martin said coho salmon off Northern California and the Pacific Northwest were ``nailed'' when the weather changed.
``The effects this would have both on freshwater and ocean fisheries would be profound,'' said Kristin Merriman-Clarke, editor of the society's magazine Fisheries.
El Nino is an oceanic and weather phenomenon that occurs in the tropical Pacific every few years. It was given its name, which means the Christ child, by Peruvians 200 years ago when they noticed ocean warming at Christmas time.
The change can cause unusual or more severe weather over a large part of the world, leading to above-normal rainfall in some areas and drought in others, while affecting crops and fish populations.
In the winter of 1982-83, El Nino ``opened up the entire West Coast'' to a greater-than-usual number of storms, Friday said. That caused flooding and mudslides in California and severely affected fish and marine mammals.
``It brought great changes,'' Friday said. ``It completely wiped out some fisheries' stocks that year.''
Many species of fish suffer because they depend on cold, nutrient-rich water welling up from the depths. The warmer, nutrient-poor water keeps it from rising far enough. Some fish migrate to colder, richer water. Others simply don't survive.
The latest El Nino already is affecting fish populations, Friday said in an interview after his talk.
Such fish as albacore and marlin - usually found no farther north than Santa Catalina Island - are being caught off the central California coast, Friday said.
But the West Coast isn't the only area to feel El Nino's effect. While California can expect to see storms, the Southwest and South can expect a cooler, rainier winter while the Pacific Northwest is likely to have below-normal rain and snow, Friday said.
NOAA also forsees warmer-than-usual weather in early 1998 for southern Australia and the Sahel region of Africa. Meanwhile, southern Africa and the Amazon basin are in for a lot of rain.
Fish elsewhere also are affected. Previous occurrences have damaged fisheries off the western coast of South America.
Experts also are concerned about cod populations in the North Atlantic and the Gulf Coast's red drum, said Charles Coutant, president of the American Fisheries Society and a research ecologist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.
El Nino doesn't hurt everyone, however. Warm-water fish enjoy a wider range. And fewer hurricanes hit the United States during El Nino years.
``That's about the only good news,'' Friday said.