Marine Heatwaves and Ocean Wildlife Welfare

Marine heatwaves are increasing in frequency and intensity, causing mass mortality events in fish, marine mammals, seabirds, and coral reef species.

Key Facts

The 2023 North Atlantic marine heatwave set records with temperatures 5 degrees above average
Mass mortality events in fish, seabirds, and marine mammals were documented across the North Atlantic in 2023
Coral bleaching events driven by heat stress are becoming annual occurrences on the Great Barrier Reef
Marine heatwaves disrupt prey availability, causing widespread starvation in marine predators

Welfare Considerations

Marine heatwaves cause suffering at massive scale, affecting billions of individual animals through thermal stress, disrupted food webs, and mass mortality. For endothermic marine animals like seabirds and mammals, warming oceans displace their prey, causing starvation of adults and chicks. Fish experience thermal stress directly. Coral bleaching events destroy the physical structure that supports reef communities. The welfare harm from marine heatwaves is inseparable from climate change, making climate action a fundamental animal welfare intervention.

What You Can Do

Support ambitious climate action as a marine wildlife welfare priority
Reduce your personal carbon footprint as a contribution to ocean temperature stabilisation
Support marine protected areas that allow ecosystems to be more resilient to thermal stress
Follow marine heatwave monitoring organisations and share their findings widely