Warming trends rise in large ocean areas: study

By Grant McCool

HANOI (Reuters) -Warming trends in a third of the world's large ocean regions are two to four times greater than previously reported averages, increasing the risk to marine life and fisheries, a U.N.-backed environmental study said.

Overfishing, coastal pollution and degradation of water quality were common in all 64 large marine ecosystems studied by scientists who contributed to the U.N. Environmental Program report presented at an international conference on oceans, coasts and islands in Vietnam this week.

"These marine ecosystems are under great stress and that stress is increasing because of climate change, by global warming," co-author Ken Sherman of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in an interview.

"We really need to have policy makers and donors recognize that we need to fund efforts to reduce the stress," Sherman said.

The report said that in 18 of the 64 regions, "the accelerated warming trends are 2-4 times greater than the average trends reported in 2007 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change".

The week-long 4th global conference on oceans, coasts and islands in Hanoi is a forum for developing countries trying to improve ocean governance and coastal management, especially in the light of climate change.

U.S. academic and conference co-chair Biliana Cicin-Sain said there had been widespread changes in management of national jurisdiction.

"But governance of the 64 percent of the ocean that lies beyond national jurisdiction remains largely sectoral based and fragmented, making it difficult to address the effects of uses."