sardines

California’s coastal ecosystem is in the midst of a massive “disruption” because of climate change, says the San Francisco Chronicle. For example, warmer waters have stalled the growth of kelp forests, causing sea urchins, which depend on kelp as their main food source, to mature abnormally. Their spiky shells are nearly hollow, and North Coast divers have brought in only one-tenth of their normally lucrative catch.

A new federal rule bans fishermen from catching eight kinds of forage fish in a 200-mile zone off the coasts of Oregon, Washington State and California, reports The Seattle Times.

The West coast summer sardine population is expected to fall 93 percent from to its 2007 peak, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service.