Massive Marine Ecosystem Crash Along Galicia’s Coast Due To Prolonged Atlantic Heatwave

In this first published ClimateGenn episode for a couple of months, I want to thank subscribers for your patience. I have not been sitting idle but much more trying to digest the appalling consequences of climate heating that we are now experiencing.

[Order COPOUT By Nick Breeze here]

Everyday on social media, climate graphs and charts are posted with varying degrees of deep red and other markers of urgency. Yet, nothing happens except the posts become more shrill and the problem of climate disaster becomes more irreversible.

As someone who engages a lot with climate science and scientists, somehow I had fallen into a space whereby the actual meaning of these charts had become abstract. Codified and filed away in my mind to avoid real exposure to true meaning.

Then something happened. I arranged to meet with Guillermo Díaz Agras at the marine biology research station in La Grana in Galicia. The research station is a satellite of Santiago University and the team here conduct extensive research along the coast and in the river valley’s, called rias.

What I expected to be an introductory overview of the research station turned into a horrifying cerebral experience; an awakening if you like. 

Guillermo showed me a long stream of images of dead dolphins, turtles and otters, saying simply: ‘That was just last week!’. He then explained how much of the indigenous shellfish are dying. The mussels no longer forming in this stretch of coast, the seaweed that bound the mussels to the rocks and the floating platforms, no longer there. The ecosystems that were embedded within them, gone.

In 2022, 220 dolphins were found dead along this coast. In 2023 that number rose to 667. In 2024 we are already over 315 as of last week. 

He then explained that the Atlantic Ocean heatwave that we see in those charts plastered all over the internet is triggering a massive breakdown of marine ecosystems along this coastline. The heated ocean creates more evaporation which is driving the most incredible downpours of rain. This in turn is desalinating the local waters and making life impossible for many species. The northerly winds that are well known here and blow the warmer surface waters out to sea, have stopped. The acidity of the ocean water from constant burning of fossil fuels is stopping shell formation too. 

This is what is meant when scientists speak of a cascade of climate impacts. The Atlantic Ocean heatwave is the main driver of this catastrophic cascade.

But this ecosystem is deeply connected to the Galician way off life, their cultural identity and local economies. Last week, with Guillermo, I met with the head of the regional fishing group. The impacts that I have mentioned are now creating a zombie-like industry. Fishermen here used to work the whole year through, everyday. Now they work around 15 days per year and receive subsidies from the government.

The lack of life in the oceans due to the ocean heating mean that new species are being shipped in from more exotic parts of the world where they can survive the hotter waters. These species take 3 years to mature and then have to be reordered. Aside from the unknown unknowns regarding dumping foreign species into these waters, the shellfish have to be reordered. However, as this happening along the coast in different communities, demand is outstripping supply. The government are funding the 3 yearly purchase of the new stock but not the ability to breed.

Guillermo is nervous that the imported, and essentially invasive species, may have unforeseen deleterious consequences for the wider ecosystem. However, everything is dying anyway. When I asked him what he thinks we should do, he shakes his head and says, “it is too late!”

These very words are stating very clearly that it is too late to save nature. We are part of nature and intricately connected to its bounty. Just recently The Guardian newspaper blindly published an article praising Galicia for its super healthy seafood diet. There is no reference in the article to the crashing seafood stocks. The article is as blind in its fantasy of long life and abundant seafood as it is perpetuating cliches and myths about the Earth we are destroying. In a moment I will play the interview I recorded with Guillermo giving the overview of the situation along this coast.

I am resuming the podcast series and will be publishing more material on this specific issue. There is also a lot of material I have recorded on geoengineering that I will publish in the subscribers areas for Water level members. It will be edited for use at a later point.

This has been an intense period of work and there is much more to do.

My book COPOUT is available to order in the US and Canada from 21st May. COPOUT explains how we got into this mess. The thirty years of complete political failure to change humanity’s course. I am now working on a second book that is looking at the consequences of failure and although it may sound harrowing, we have to keep in mind that it is just reality and that life will go on, until it doesn’t. We have a collective duty to do what we can to sustain and where possible restore the damages our species has created.

Thank you too all subscribers and supporters. Please do get in touch or leave comments. I do try to respond to as much as possible.