Greenpeace Agrees!

Greenpeace talks about the risks to marine life associated with global warming...


Temperature rises are impacting on the entire marine food web. For example, phytoplankton, which feeds small crustaceans including krill, grow under sea ice. A reduction in sea ice implies a reduction in krill - and krill feeds many whale species, including the great whales.

Whales and dolphins strand themselves in high temperatures. The great whales also risk losing their feeding grounds, in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica, because of the melting and collapse of ice shelves.

Whole species of marine animals and fish are directly at risk due to the temperature rise - they simply cannot survive in warmer waters. Some penguin populations, for example, have decreased by 33 percent in parts of Antarctica, because of habitat decline.

An increasing occurrence of disease in marine animals is also linked to rising ocean temperatures.
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