A joint study by researchers from Exeter and Bristol universities in the U.K. suggests that the flat fish species that are local in the region will be evacuating the southern waters to go north due to the rising water temperature.
Fish such as haddock, plaice and lemon sole are often used for fish and chips. But the study predicted that this meal could be off the menu and would be replaced with sardines and squid in the next 50 years.
The researchers created a climate model to see how the rising sea temperature will affect the North Sea fish. Their projection showed that as the water temperature increases by 1.8 degrees in the next 50 years, the flat fish species population declines. However, the warmer water seems to be favorable to other species such as the John Dory, red mullet, gurnard, sardines, anchovies, cuttlefish and squid because the researchers observed growths of their populations.
"The flat fish are really in trouble," Stephen Simpson, a marine biologist and study co-author from Exeter University, told BBC News. "Unless they can change their habitat and diet in the next 20 or 30 years, or adapt to 2 degrees more warming - which is a big ask - then they will decline."
The findings of the study are beneficial to the development of new plans of managing fish stocks in the region, especially if people still want to enjoy their fish and chips. In the U.K., there are more fish and chips stores than McDonald's and KFC.
''Our study suggests that we will see proportionally less of some of the species we eat most of as they struggle to cope with warming conditions in the North Sea," Louise Rutterford, a postgraduate researcher at the University of Exeter, said to The Telegraph. ''We provide new insight into how important local depths and associated habitats are to these commercial species."
The study was published in the April 13 issue of Nature Climate Change.
