Cooler seas in the Poles attracts marine-life London – Naeem Arzu Climate change and rising ocean temperatures is causing marine life to move closer to cooler regions in the poles, a study has found .
An international team of researchers has concluded that fish and marine creatures are seeking cooler temperatures faster than terrestrial animals, which are edging closer to the North and South Poles at an average rate of 7kms every decade, changing the biological make-up of the seas.
Elvira Poloczanska, lead author and research scientist with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, said “the leading edge or front-line of marine species distributions is moving toward the poles at an average speed of 72 kilometres per decade -considerably faster than terrestrial species, which are moving pole-ward at an average rate of six km per decade,”
Winter periods are shortening in waters, as oceans are gradually become warmer resulting in spring coming sooner than expected.  This means the time-period between events such breeding is becoming shorter, which is affecting natural events such as plankton blooms.
The research found that spring in the world’s oceans had retracted by as much as four days.  
Dr Christopher Brown, post-doctoral research fellow at University of Queensland’s Global Change Institute, Australia said some species which were specific to certain areas of the world could possibly face extinction.
He said, “Some species like barnacles and lots of shellfish are constrained to living on the coast, so in places like Tasmania, if they’re already at the edge of the range there’s nowhere for them to go. You could potentially lose those.”
Camille Parmesan, professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at University of Texas at Austin, said “This is the first comprehensive documentation of what is happening in our marine systems in relation to climate change.”  She said, ““What it reveals is that the changes occurring on land are being matched by the oceans. And far from being a buffer and displaying more minor changes, what we’re seeing is a far stronger response from the oceans.”
The report concluded that climate change as a result of global warming is the main factor behind the climate-shift in oceans.  Dr Brown said the only way to oppose the changing shape of the oceanic wildlife is to reduce green-house emissions, but said there is a significant time-lag in that.  “Even if we reduce emissions now then those effects won’t be seen for 20 years or so”, he added.