well the world's deep oceans are in deep
trouble this according to a new report
presented at the UN climate conference
in Madrid today the International Union
for the Conservation of Nature says
there are many reasons for that but a
big one is the steady fall in oxygen
levels now fish need oxygen just as much
as land animals but the number of
so-called dead zones which are places
with little or no oxygen is growing
quickly when research began in the 1960s
scientists counted 45 dead zones but
today there are more than 700 the lower
oxygen levels are especially hard on
larger species like sharks while many
apps is the director of the global
marine and polar program with the
International Union for the Conservation
of Nature and she joins us right now
from Madrid Minna thank you for joining
us today thank you for having me listen
I want to begin person foremost with
impact what does a lower oxygen level in
oceans actually translate to well the
concrete things that it translates to on
a general scale would be the loss of
biodiversity loss of biomass lots of
habitats as these are shrinking or it
could be also alternate of alteration of
the energy and the biochemical cycling
so what is causing this lower oxygen
level that's now being tracked around
the world well the primary cause of
deoxygenation
which has occurred for most in the
coastal areas what's been 30 to 40
kilometers offshore like you would have
seen and then lower the gophers st.
Lawrence and that is caused mainly by
nutrient pollution so that's a primary
course in general what we're seeing now
is also the linkages to climate change
as increase co2 levels mission has
resulted in ocean warming so warmer
water contains less diesel less oxygen
which means that the oceans due to
climate change are becoming warmer more
sour and ultimately breathless
breathless but I do wonder what is the
impact on that on hue
well it's it's all connected so from the
oceans you know we get where food it's
it's a carbon storage it generates
oxygen it's part of Regulus orbs the
heats of excess heat so it's part of a
regulatory system and we all need oxygen
as well to breathe but what climate
change does is weak in this ability the
support system of of the ocean and you
mentioned in the 700 sites I mean the
this 2% decline in oxygen levels is an
average within that you have massive
huge regional variations so this could
be some areas up to 30% etc but we're
also seeing that the future projections
it's another three to four percent both
under high and a lower emission targets
so makes it harder to actually regulate
oxygen and global temperatures you're
saying and talk about the economic
impact of this because I think for many
people this is part of the picture as
they try to understand the impacts of
climate change yeah so I think that now
they're talking about or looking at the
ocean saying well if the ocean was a
state it would be in in terms of GDP you
would be the seven largest so because
we're looking at all the benefits that
we are getting for the ocean and its
services and the potential that's there
so we really need to think about this
and a concrete thing would be commercial
fishing which is important for the socio
economics so look at the tuna fisheries
for example they need a lot of oxygen
rich waters and so we're seeing
migration to more nutrients and oceans
and rich waters but so it's it could be
habitat loss but it can also affect us
in the way that's important commercial
species which is like code for example
it can actually hamper their growth as
well because they don't have oxygen
enough oxygen they have enough to
sustain but they might not grow or
reproduce as much as they would under
more optimal conditions
well of course Cod is a species of fish
that Canada is very familiar with this
deoxygenation as you say happening all
around the world
can you pinpoint the kind of effect this
will have on Canada in particular well I
mean this report that's been put
together it's from 67 scientists around
the world and there's different
geographical studies so it's a 600 pages
of these different sites there are
studies looking at the Gulf of st.
Lawrence and looking at Cod but also in
some areas where they have actually
found deoxygenation
has half since the 1930s in those areas
so it's an area I think 1,300 square
kilometers of deoxygenation so so that's
something that's very close to home for
you and as you mentioned before the cod
fishery mm-hmm so can this be stopped
are there things on a practical level
the people can do to stop this from
happening I mean there is a solution I
mean the primary cost which is nutrient
pollution of course there's action that
that can be taken there but we need to
ultimately cut emissions or have much
more ambitious targets towards cutting
emissions we need to invest in nature
based solutions so that's in protecting
and restoring ecosystems both from
mitigation and for adaptation but we
also need to reduce other non climate
change stressors such as overfishing we
need to have sustainable fisheries that
can sustain and be more resilient to
these changes that are occurring and so
that's really here I think the decisions
being made at the cop here in Madrid
will actually determine the future of
our oceans whether there will be
thriving and marine biodiversity and
oxygen-rich environment or whether they
will be damaged and irreversibly lost so
I think that has an impact and then as
we said on a personal level we you know
we can engage we can put public pressure
and we can make sure that we source
sustain from sustainable sources