BSc. thesis: Effect of climate change on the distribution patterns of fish species around the Faroe Islands

Abstract

Bachelor of Science thesis: Temperature measures made in the Faroese waters show an increase by 0.8oC in the years 1994-2008. This awakens the thought about global warming and more specifically the impact global warming has on marine life. Faroese economics, as well as other nations in the North Atlantic, are highly dependent on the fishing industry. In this study we calculated the mass center (longitudinal, latitudinal and by depth) for 19 fish species which are most frequently caught in ground-fish bottom trawl surveys for these 13 years. The results show that during these years, the distribution pattern has changed for several species of commercial value as well as non-commercial value. To discover what causes these changes in distribution patterns we did two correlations analyses with the mass centers and temperature and the mass centers and primary production for the same fish species, respectively. These analyses showed that both factor have influence on the distribution. If sea temperature keeps rising we may experience more disturbances in the balance of the ecosystem in Faroese waters.

Date of Award	2010
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Náttúruvísindadeildin - Faculty of Science and Technology
Supervisor	Eyðfinn Magnussen (Supervisor) & Hjálmar Hátun (Supervisor)