The Tiny Fish Holding the Ocean Together Are at Risk

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As the ocean warms, some of the species
holding marine ecosystems together may be

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tiny fish most people never think about.

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This is the How to Protect the Ocean
Podcast, your weekday ocean news update.

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on the ocean every weekday, hit

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Today, we're talking about climate change,
ecosystem resilience, and why forage

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fish may become one of the most important
conservation stories of the next decade.

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Because climate change is not just
affecting polar bears and coral reefs.

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It's changing entire food webs.

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And forage fish are right
at the middle of that shift.

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So why are these tiny fish becoming
even more important in a warming ocean?

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That's really the
question to ask, isn't it?

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And what happens when
climate stress collides with

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already pressured ecosystems?

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Let's talk about it.

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Forage fish are highly sensitive to
environmental conditions, and that

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includes ocean temperature, plankton
availability, oxygen levels, ocean

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currents, a lot of different things.

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Even small environmental shifts can
affect where these fish live, how

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successfully they reproduce, and
whether predators can find them.

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Marine heatwaves are a major example.

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During extreme warming events, plankton
production can change dramatically.

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Because forage fish feed heavily
on plankton, these populations

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can also shift or decline.

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That creates a chain reaction.

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And if forage fish move farther offshore,
predators may struggle to keep up.

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If populations crash temporarily,
predators may suddenly lose

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access to a major food source.

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And scientists are already seeing
signs of this actually happening.

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In some regions, seabird colonies
have experienced breeding failures

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linked to forage fish shortages.

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Adult birds simply cannot find
enough food for their chicks.

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Same with whale feeding grounds are also
shifting as prey distributions change.

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Some other things that are happening,
you know, you look to see salmon

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populations in certain areas are
dealing with increasingly unstable food

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conditions during their life stages.

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So we're seeing that shift in foods in
terms of the whole parameters of shifting

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baselines and everything that's happening.

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But then there's also another
thing that we rarely talk

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about, and that's upwellings.

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Upwellings can shift in where they are
going to be, 'cause an upwelling is

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essentially this current that comes
from the deep oceans, brings nutrients

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to the top, phytoplankton, zooplankton,
and that will attract forage fish.

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Those forage fish will come in, and
then, of course, their predators

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are gonna come in, whales, sea
turtles, tuna, salmon, cod.

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Depending on where they are
around the world, you get a

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lot of fish that are coming in.

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Seabirds, sharks, all these different
prey and predator interactions

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will happen during that time.

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And that's on different multiple stages.

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Now, if those upwelling shift, and
they shift outside of migration

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routes, or they shift outside of
regular areas that they're normally

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gonna be, you're gonna see a shift in
where those forage fish are gonna go.

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And you're gonna see a shift in
where those predators are gonna

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go, but there's gonna be some loss
of life because of that chaos that

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happens as shifting baselines happen.

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And that's something that
you don't want to see.

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So what makes forage fish so important
is that they connect the lower ocean

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productivity to larger predators.

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They stabilize the ecosystems, just
like I talk about how diversity

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stabilizes ecosystems, which means
when ecosystems become stressed,

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forage fish become even more critical.

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This matters because climate
resilience is not just about

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protecting species individually.

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It is about protecting ecosystem function.

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Healthy ecosystems need strong food webs.

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They need enough species to
absorb environmental stress.

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Think about it like financial savings.

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I know.

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Why are we getting into finance?

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But just trust me on this.

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If an ecosystem has abundant forage fish
populations, predators have a buffer

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during difficult environmental periods.

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But if forage fish populations
are already heavily reduced from

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industrial fishing or habitat stress,
ecosystems become more fragile.

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There's less margin for error.

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So that means climate impacts
can hit harder and faster.

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And this is especially important
because climate change is creating

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more unpredictability in the ocean.

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Species are shifting northward
because they can go in warmer waters.

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Seasonal timing is changing.

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Migration patterns are becoming less
reliable, which we're seeing with

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the North Atlantic right whale when
they start to go up to the Gulf of

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St. Lawrence and where they saw
more death because of human impacts.

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And predators are increasingly
competing for food resources that may

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no longer be consistently available.

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Now, one concept scientists
talk about is timing mismatches.

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As an example, predators arrive at
traditional feeding grounds expecting

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large schools of forage fish,

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but warming conditions may
have shifted the timing or the

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location of those forage fish.

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That means predators show up at
the wrong place at the wrong time.

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And in nature, timing matters, and it
can be a heavy consequence if you show

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up at the wrong place at the wrong time.

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And before we continue on what
happens next, I wanna just talk to

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you a little bit about how this is
all involved in communication.

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Now, as I'm communicating this to you
right now about forage fish, about the

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fish that nobody talks about or nobody
really understands, and how important

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it is to stabilize an ecosystem,
communication is really important, not

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just for your organization, not just
for you as a science communicator.

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It's important for everybody to
understand what is happening in the ocean.

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And we can't just communicate through
peer-reviewed papers because they

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are behind those walls, those
science journal walls that cost

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forty dollars a paper just to get.

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And not everybody knows a
professor or the academic author

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who actually puts this together.

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And so what we really need here
is we need people to help us

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out with science communication.

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And I work for Pisces Oceans.

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I'm the ocean communications manager, and
we help organizations, academic projects

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and for-profit companies to get their
message out and amplify that message.

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We look at the strategy of who they're
messaging, their target audience, what

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they're trying to say, why it matters.

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We have scientists, we have ocean
communicators, we have project managers.

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The whole slew of people in one
consulting firm, and we wanna help you.

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So if you want more information and
you wanna find out how you can get

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help from us, go to piscesoceans.ca.

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That's piscesoceans.ca.

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I'll put the link in the show notes
and fill out the little tool that

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I link to so that you can find
out where you need help the most.

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All right, let's get back to our show.

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Let's talk about what happens next.

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This is where more scientists and
conservation groups are arguing that

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protecting forage fish should be
part of a climate change adaptation

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policy, not just fisheries policy.

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There's a major shift in this
thinking because for years,

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climate adaptation discussions
focused heavily on infrastructure,

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emissions, and coastal protection.

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Those issues absolutely matter.

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But ecosystems also need
biological resistance.

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And that often starts at
the bottom of the food web.

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Some fisheries managers are
already incorporating climate

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data into stock assessments.

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Others are exploring more precautionary
catch limits during warming periods.

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Researchers are also using
ecosystem models to better

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understand how climate stress
affects predator-prey relationships.

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But there's still uncertainty
in everything that goes on.

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Climate systems are changing quickly,
and forage fish populations can fluctuate

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naturally even without human pressure.

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That makes management extremely difficult.

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Still, one thing is
becoming increasingly clear.

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If ecosystems are going to survive
accelerating climate stress, they

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need strong foundations, and forage
fish are part of that foundation.

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Climate change is testing the
resilience of ocean ecosystems, and

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the species helping hold those
systems together may be the smallest

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fish in the sea, the forage fish.

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So it's important to get to know
more about these forage fish.

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And if you've been listening for the
last three episodes, this is our fourth

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episode that we do on forage fish, you're
gonna wanna hear the next episode where

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we talk to Jack Daly from Oceana Canada,
where they just released a report on

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the state of forage fish in Canada.

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I'll be honest, it's not that great,
and you're gonna wanna hear why, but

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the report is really laid out well.

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It's got a number of different stories
from a number of different rights

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and stakeholders, and I think it's
really important to listen to that

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conversation that I had with Jack Daly.

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So if you want to know more about
what's the conversation is gonna be,

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I want you to follow this podcast, How
to Protect the Ocean podcast, so you

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get tomorrow's episode and your weekly
ocean news update from Monday to Friday,

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where we do an interview on Friday,
and we set you up to success for that

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interview on Friday by going Monday to
Thursday solo episodes like I'm doing

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right now to explain and prepare you
for what we're gonna be talking about

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so you have a better understanding
of what's gonna happen on Friday.

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I wanna thank you so much for
joining me on today's episode of the

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How to Protect the Ocean podcast.

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I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.

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Have a great day.

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We'll talk to you tomorrow,
and happy conservation.