Sea temperature around Ieodo near Jeju rises at twice the global average rate over 20 years

It has been found that sea surface temperatures in the waters around Ieodo, southwest of Jeju Island, have been rising faster than the global average over the past 20 years. Researchers at the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology announced on the 11th that analysis of observation data accumulated since 2004 showed that the surface sea temperature in this area had risen by 1.1 degrees. According to the researchers, this is more than twice as fast as the global average increase of 0.48 degrees for the world's oceans excluding the polar regions over the same period. Last month's average sea temperature was also 17 degrees, higher than the May average, and air temperature also recorded the highest level since observations began. The research team believes that if the rise in sea temperatures continues, changes may appear in the distribution of coastal fish species, fishery resources, and the marine ecosystem as a whole. In fact, domestic coastal fisheries catches have declined over the long term, and while anchovies have decreased, warmwater species such as horse mackerel, Japanese Spanish mackerel, and yellowtail have relatively increased or shown a stable trend.