Seabirds find it harder to catch fish as climate crisis makes water cloudier

Climate crisis alters location, timing and intensity of plankton blooms, limiting visibility

Seabirds are finding it harder to catch fish because their underwater visibility is being affected by increasingly cloudy water, partly due to the climate crisis, according to a new study.

The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, assessed how underwater visibility affects the ability of seabirds to forage for fish and other prey – making it one of the first studies to examine the impact of ocean clarity on the diving abilities of birds.

For the study, scientists, including those from the University College Cork (UCC), attached tiny trackers to the feathers of the seabird Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus) in Little Saltee, a small island off the coast of Ireland.