March 16, 2026 — As the saying goes, there are plenty more fish in the sea—but climate change is rapidly challenging that notion, with fish stocks around the world under threat. New modeling from Monash University predicts how climate change will alter fishing yields in many regions, threatening food security, livelihoods and the future of marine life as a sustainable food source.
Existing prediction models have looked at how fish species respond to warming temperatures in the absence of evolutionary change. However, the research published in Science now looks at how fish will evolve in response to future climates.
Fisheries provide billions of people with animal protein, for which the demand is predicted to increase. But as oceans warm and weather patterns shift, fish are evolving, breeding less or disappearing from waters entirely.