JAKARTA - Sea waters around New Zealand are warming 34 percent faster than the global average, threatening the coastal infrastructure and ecosystem of the Pacific island nation, the New Zealand Environment Ministry reports.
"The sea water warming rate around New Zealand continues to increase and is now 34 percent faster than the global average... New Zealand Ocean is heating up faster due to changes in atmospheric circulation and changes in accompanying ocean currents," reads the report entitled Our Marine Environment 2025 as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, October 8.
The report noted that around 219,000 coastal residential properties worth a total of 180 billion New Zealand dollars (approximately 103 billion US dollars), as well as coastal infrastructure worth 26.18 billion New Zealand dollars (as of 2016), are in flood-prone areas and storms.
In some areas, sea level is expected to rise by 20'30 centimeters by 2050, which could cause storms to hit land each year from the sea.
The report also highlights the significant impact of human activity on New Zealand's marine environment.
Human activities, both on land and at sea, continue to put pressure on the marine environment. Impacts of land such as pollution, sedimentation, narrowing coastal habitats, and runoff of nutrients damage coastal and marine ecosystems.
"Meanwhile, marine activity such as side-catching, fishing with basic trawlers, and over-capture further threatens biodiversity and ecological resilience," the report reads.
The report also noted a subtropicalfront shift between cold and warm waters as far as 120 kilometers to the west, which for the first time showed changes in large-scale ocean circulation around the country.
Maritime warming has damaged New Zealand's fishing and sea cultivation industries, while increasingly frequent sea heat waves have led to the death of marine sponges, alga, and penguin, scientists say.
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