As global temperatures rise, scientists expect the pace of change in the oceans to accelerate, leaving many fishing communities to adapt or transition to new species. Credit: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Image

A study of 686 North American fish species forecasts a bigger migration with global warming than scientists had expected. Coastal communities will be left to adapt.

Global warming will drive many of North America’s fish species hundreds of miles northward, potentially costing coastal fishing communities billions of dollars over the next few decades, new research shows.

In New England, the centuries-old cod fishery is at risk, with East Coast habitat for Atlantic cod expected to decline 90 percent by 2100. Off the Pacific Northwest, rockfish that have been prized by Native American communities for centuries are moving toward Alaska as the oceans warm.

If heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions continue unchecked, several important species will disappear from their current habitat by the end of the century, according to a new study of 686 species that live in the relatively shallow […]