Mar 08, 2014 05:26 PM EST By Jaleesa Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

Climate change inadvertently impacted fisheries that rely on short life species, such as shrimp or sardine, more than other businesses because it affects chlorophyll production, which is vital for phytoplankton, the main food for both species, according to a recent study.

Despite global warming's impact on fisheries, researchers found that in the last five years there have been no "spectacular" changes attributable to climate change, what has affected the fishing resources more is the over demanding market.

"Globally, a great part of the fishing resources is being exploited to its maximum capacity, several have overpass its regeneration capacities and are overexploited," Ernesto A. Chávez Ortiz from the National Polytechnic Institute said in a statement.

Investigators found that the research consisted in exploratory weather and fisheries analysis, and confirmed what has been intuitively said for a while: a lot of the variability in the fishing is due to climate change, the problem is that evidence hadn't been found to prove it.

In the case of the shrimp, climate change effects are related to an input of water from the continent; for example, when there's a good raining season, there will be an increase in the crustacean production, which is reduced when it doesn't rain.

For the study, which was headed by Chávez Ortiz, researchers took historical data from the FAO regarding fisheries, available since 1950, compared it to the data of weather variability and found high correlations.

Researchers identified some change patterns. For example, while in the 70s the sardine production increases, in the 80s it decreases below average levels, meanwhile shrimp fishing increased above average but decreased in the 90s.

This way, climate changes were identified in the mid 70s and late 80s that affected the fishing of sardine and shrimp in the Mexican Pacific Ocean, possibly attributable to El Niño. In the particular case of the shrimp, it effects are related to an input of water from the continent; for example, when there's a good raining season, there will be an increase in the crustacean production, which is reduced when it doesn't rain.

See Now: Covert Team Inside Newsweek Revealed as Key Players in False Human Trafficking Lawsuit