While fish prefer the increasingly warmer water around Greenland, other species in its seas are failing. Shrimp fishing in southern Greenland has had to close down.
What was once one of the Royal Greenland shrimp factories in Narsaq was turned into a sheep slaughter-house several years ago. The odour of shrimps has been replaced by the odour of sheep and unemployment has soared.
Further north along Greenland's west coast, shrimps are still plentiful. More than 100,000 tons are still caught here annually. Shrimps form Greenland's most important export industry. "The collapse of shrimp fishing in southern Greenland and rising water temperatures has made it difficult for the shrimp industry to continue investing in newer, more modern, equipment," reports Vivi Höj Labansen, head of the Royal Greenland factory in Sisimiut.
"There is a debate in Greenland about the future of commercial fishing," says Vivi Höj Labansen. "According to one old theory the shrimps decrease as the water gets warmer, while at the same time codfish increase."
"In the 1950s-60s it was generally warmer in southern Greenland. From the end of the 60s to the middle of the 90s we experienced a colder period, and from the end of the 90s until today it is once again warmer in southern Greenland. Today's temperature is as warm as that of the 1950s," reports Mads Hvid Ribergaard from the Danish Meteorological Institute.
"Temperature swings are mainly caused by normal variations in water circulation in the North Atlantic," he explains. "A branch of the warm Gulf Stream passes close to Greenland. This ocean current varies in strength and has been stronger over the last few years than in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Water temperature can vary naturally by several degrees depending on ocean currents. It is hard to say if human emissions of greenhouse gases have also had an effect on today's temperature increase. What is clear is that natural variations are the cause of a large part of the change," continues oceanographer Mads Hvid Ribergaard.
The increase in codfish numbers when the water is warmer is evident in the small village of Sarfannguaq, far up a fjord, just a stone's throw from the Polar Circle, with 131 inhabitants. Johanne Nathansen works in the small factory there together with four colleagues. They clean and salt the cod in large plastic basins, for export to southern Europe.
"There is plenty of cod in the fjords and work in the factory is expanding," says Johanne Nathansen.
Greenland's cod fishing is very marginal today -- it's a far cry from the golden era of the 20th century. Cod was fished then in great numbers, at almost half a million tons annually, right down to 1970 when the industry collapsed. According to oceanographer Kaj Sünksen the collapse was caused mainly by over-fishing, but this coincided with a fall in water temperatures which the cod had a hard time surviving.
Despite the increase in water temperatures around southern and western Greenland it is still the shrimp which is the corner stone of the Greenland export industry. The shrimp may have decreased in southern Greenland but there are still plenty along the west coast, and according to shrimp researchers at the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, there is no over-fishing today of this vital resource.
This story is posted on Alaska Dispatch as part of Eye on the Arctic, a collaborative partnership between public and private circumpolar media organizations.