Hoki used to be New Zealand’s biggest fishery, both in volume and in export earnings.
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Hoki. Photo: Malcolm Francis
In the 1990s it was discovered that the success of hoki spawning was determined by the surface temperature of the Tasman Sea off the West Coast of the South Island.
If the temperature was cool, spawning was good; if it was warmer, spawning was poor. We have now had a decade of warmer sea surface temperatures that has meant spawning has been less successful. Combined with heavy fishing it has led to the collapse of the hoki fishery.
Climate change is also making the world’s oceans more acidic, which may affect marine life such as mussels, crayfish, and plankton on which larger species higher up the food chain depend on for food.
These impacts of climate change have a detrimental effect on our marine life and on New Zealand’s valuable fishing resources.
