The Mediterranean is getting hotter and more acidic

MEDITERRANEAN species are in danger because of higher temperatures and higher CO2 levels in the water.

This is one of the alarming conclusions reached by a MedSea study carried out by researchers from more than a dozen countries, including Spain, said the Science and Environmental Technology Institute (ICTA) of the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

MedSea, a project founded by the European Commission, aims at studying the ecologic and economic impacts of acidification and warming. It also seeks to predict climatic, chemical and socio-economical changes in the Mediterranean.

Water acidity has increased 10 per cent since 1995 and it is estimated it will reach 30 per cent by 2050. This could negatively impact tourism in coastal cities and their economies. “The ocean absorbs one fourth of anthropogenic contamination,” said Patricia Ziveria, one of the ICTA researchers.

“Fast climate change threatens species which are characteristic to the Mediterranean,” she added. Some of these include the red coral, mussels and seagrass.

She also warned that there are certain jellyfish species that are not affected by rising temperatures or even higher acid levels. As a result, their populations could considerably increase in the Mediterranean.

A disruption in the food chain could jeopardize other underwater species, which could die out for lack of food, and affect local economies, tourism and aquaculture. In turn, this could have catastrophic consequences for underwater life and the livelihoods of Mediterranean populations. 

Three hundred million people coexist on the Mediterranean coasts and local economies largely depend on their fish-based gastronomic culture.