Once one of the largest fisheries on the East Coast, Peconic Bay scallops have faced near complete die-offs on Long Island since 2019.Christopher Gobler, a co-author and endowed chair of coastal ecology and conservation in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, used satellite thermal imaging and recorded scallop heartbeats to measure how less oxygen and warming waters put stress on shellfish populations.
“We found that when placed in areas that were experiencing heatwaves, all the scallops died, whereas the ones that were in cooler temperatures, they survived,” he said. According to satellite imagery and long-term environmental records, the temperature of New England waters has increased faster than any other place in the U.S., and will soon approach Long Island’s current conditions.
“In climate change, there are winners and losers. And so that can be said with regards to organisms, but actually can be said with regards to things, like fisheries and states,” he continued. “New York became a climate change loser, whereas places in the north are hanging in there. But, if the trends continue, then we would expect that those organisms may continue to move north.