Global warming already has a significant impact in the North Sea.

It caused schools of benthic fish to move northward, or to deeper layers of the ocean. These variations concern twenty-one of the thirty-six species studied by a team of British researchers (1) which accumulated data between 1977 and 2001.

Among the species observed are cod, white hake and monkfish. If current trends continue, some species could withdraw completely from the North Sea by 2050, say oceanographers. (1) Science, May 12, 2005