Anchovy, bluefin tuna, sardines, squid and red mullet are already replacing these species and fishers need British consumers’ culinary tastes to change if they are to make a living marketing these new species.
UK waters, particularly the southern North Sea, are warming fast, making the North Atlantic one of the world’s marine “hot spots”.
Already fishers are travelling ever further north to catch British favourites such as cod and haddock, and some salmon stocks face extinction.
The increasing acidity of the seas caused by greater carbon dioxide absorption might kill some marine species and the melting Arctic ice has the potential to switch off vital currents such as the Gulf Stream.
Scientists have been asked by the UK government to forecast what this means for British food supply and predict potentially dangerous tipping points that lie ahead.
