Record heat raises sea temperatures, lowers Japanese fishermen's hauls of Pacific saury
The Yomiuri Shimbun
(MCT)
TOKYO - This year's scorching summer led to a record high in the average ocean surface temperature around Japan in August, severely reducing hauls of Pacific sauries.
The average ocean surface temperature in August was 1.2 degrees higher than the average for that month, and the highest level seen since the Meteorological Agency began recording temperatures via satellite in 1985, the agency announced. The figure exceeded the previous high from August 1994, when the average ocean surface temperature was 0.85 degree higher than normal, according to the agency.
A rise in sea surface temperature often changes the migratory habits of fish such as saury, known in Japan as sanma, as the fish leave their regular haunts to seek cooler waters.
According to the agency, a strong high-pressure system over the Pacific has remained dominant over Japan even into September, meaning that both land and sea continue to experience scorching heat. Ocean temperatures in some waters off the Tohoku region's Sanriku coast on the Pacific and places in the Sea of Japan are more than 3 degrees higher than normal.
Sanma fishermen have been hard hit by the long spell of warmer seas. The catch from early July to the end of August was 8,350 tons, only 20 percent of last year's for the same period, according to a preliminary survey by a sanma fisheries association. Normally at this time of year, the waters east of the Russian-held northern territories off eastern Hokkaido are filled with sanma, the association said.
Pacific saury usually swim about one meter (3.2 feet) below the surface, according to Akihiko Yatsu, a senior researcher at the National Research Institute of Fisheries Science at the Fisheries Research Agency. Unlike other fish, sanma cannot dive to reach cooler water, and they have likely moved away from their usual habitats to find cooler water, Yatsu said.
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(c) 2010, The Yomiuri Shimbun.
Visit the Daily Yomiuri Online at http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/index-e.htm/.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
The Yomiuri Shimbun
(MCT)
TOKYO - This year's scorching summer led to a record high in the average ocean surface temperature around Japan in August, severely reducing hauls of Pacific sauries.
The average ocean surface temperature in August was 1.2 degrees higher than the average for that month, and the highest level seen since the Meteorological Agency began recording temperatures via satellite in 1985, the agency announced. The figure exceeded the previous high from August 1994, when the average ocean surface temperature was 0.85 degree higher than normal, according to the agency.
A rise in sea surface temperature often changes the migratory habits of fish such as saury, known in Japan as sanma, as the fish leave their regular haunts to seek cooler waters.
According to the agency, a strong high-pressure system over the Pacific has remained dominant over Japan even into September, meaning that both land and sea continue to experience scorching heat. Ocean temperatures in some waters off the Tohoku region's Sanriku coast on the Pacific and places in the Sea of Japan are more than 3 degrees higher than normal.
Sanma fishermen have been hard hit by the long spell of warmer seas. The catch from early July to the end of August was 8,350 tons, only 20 percent of last year's for the same period, according to a preliminary survey by a sanma fisheries association. Normally at this time of year, the waters east of the Russian-held northern territories off eastern Hokkaido are filled with sanma, the association said.
Pacific saury usually swim about one meter (3.2 feet) below the surface, according to Akihiko Yatsu, a senior researcher at the National Research Institute of Fisheries Science at the Fisheries Research Agency. Unlike other fish, sanma cannot dive to reach cooler water, and they have likely moved away from their usual habitats to find cooler water, Yatsu said.
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(c) 2010, The Yomiuri Shimbun.
Visit the Daily Yomiuri Online at http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/index-e.htm/.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
