| Admin | Date: Saturday, 09-05-2009, 2:38 PM | Message # 1 |
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| The 500 million North Atlantic shrimp fishery could falter as warmer seas disrupt the crustaceans’ life cycle, scientists say. As their habitat heats up, juvenile shrimp may hatch prematurely at times when food is scarce, according to a report published today in the journal Science.  The shrimp — which live in cold water from the Gulf of Maine to Arctic waters north of Norway — form the base of the Arctic food chain, and any decline could have ripple effects for other creatures, the scientists said. “The shrimp is the marine equivalent of the canary in the mine shaft. It’s an indicator of climate change,” said Peter Koeller, the lead author of the study at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Canada. Shrimp are currently plentiful because of overfishing of cod, one of their principal predators.
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