Giving Compass' Take:

• New research shows that climate change can greatly affect our seafood, from the supply to the actual flavor as the ocean chemistry shifts. 

• What can we do here in the U.S. to curb how climate change will impact our seafood industries? How can this research help fund sustainable seafood efforts? 

• Here's an article on making a strategic plan for sustainable seafood. 

The international panel of experts studying the global impact of climate change released a sobering report on Wednesday: The oceans, which have long acted as buffers against the worst consequences of heat waves and carbon emissions, are in trouble. The study, which was put together by more than 100 scientists from more than 30 countries, is a comprehensive assessment of current climate science concerning the planet’s water. It was released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the U.N. body that has also released massive reports on the potential impacts of global temperatures rising by 1.5 degrees Celsius and the impact of climate change on land resources.

We’ve heard a lot of it before. Glaciers are melting. Sea levels are rising. And it’s all happening faster than ever. Much of this will impact fish harvested for seafood and the fishermen and eaters who rely on them. We’ve long known that conditions caused by climate change will make it harder for oysters and mussels to grow their shells—already, oystermen in the Pacific Northwest are shipping their seeds to Hawaii to get a head start on life before growing up in harsher waters. We were also already aware that changing waters cause population shifts: Commercial fishing boats based in North Carolina have been shifting about 13 miles north every year since 1997.

Read the full article on how climate change is affecting our seafood by H. Claire Brown at The New Food Economy.