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It is also likely that climate change will have effects on the human aspects of many fisheries. Sea level rise may threaten many coastal areas. Thermal expansion of seawater is expected to cause a rise of 0.09 to 0.37 m over the next century (IPCC, 2001). This may threaten coastal cities, and infrastructure of the fishing industry in some areas. It is also predicted that storms such as monsoons and hurricane my increase in number and intensity as a result of global warming (IPCC, 2001). Flooding and storm surges could also result in damages to fishing infrastructure in locations prone to these disasters. Terrestrial effects of global warming could effect agriculture in certain areas by the changes in timing and intensity of droughts and flooding, as well as the effect of increased CO2 on the growth of crops and weeds. There are also likely to be effects on agriculture by sustained changes in temperature and precipitation, such as the desertification of the southwestern United States (IPCC, 2001). This could lead to a change in the demand for fish by some regions.
!Fig3!
Range of future temperature predictions made by different models
There is a large amount of uncertainty in the future of climate change. Although predictions can be made about what will happen, no one is sure exactly how global warming will effect the oceans and fish populations. However, the climate is an important factor in the formulation of a plan for fishery management. The climate will not change uniformly over the entire globe. For instance, climate the effects of global warming are likely to be more pronounced in the polar latitudes. Thus our predictions must be formulated specifically for different regions. Due to the importance of climate change to fisheries, we propose that we should set up a system for analyzing data as global warming progresses. Information such as temperature, salinity, pH, gas solubility, biomass, species population, and current strength and direction in order to look for trends that would allow us to better predict the future climate of various regions. Also, more work has to be done, determining quantitatively how fish populations react to climate change. As these quantities are monitored, we should begin to see trends in the progression of climate change.
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