{"id":374917,"date":"2025-04-12T19:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-12T17:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=374917"},"modified":"2025-04-12T19:32:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T17:32:12","slug":"star-of-coconut-fish-curry-thrives-in-modern-climate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=374917","title":{"rendered":"Star of Coconut Fish Curry Thrives in Modern Climate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Vijay Jayaraj<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amidst the serene backwaters of Alleppey in Southern India, where emerald waters weave through coconut groves, there emerges a dish that embodies the soul of coastal India \u2013 Fish Moilee<\/a>.  A representation of India\u2019s maritime bounty, the dish is a golden-hued masterpiece of silky-smooth coconut cream, tender fish and fragrant spices simmered to perfection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The star of the show, however, is the fish. India, like many countries, is blessed with vast expanses of marine waters. The main ones are the Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. Growing up surrounded by saltwater on three sides, I was always fascinated with the culture of fisheries that sustain the livelihoods of 30 million Indians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, fishing is thriving in the subcontinent. Fish landings are robust, aquaculture is booming, and the data pour cold water on the overheated rhetoric of environmental collapse. Let\u2019s dive into the numbers and the science that prove the fish aren\u2019t succumbing to a warm climate. They\u2019re adapting to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exactly ten years ago, I was a postgraduate researcher at the University of British Columbia\u2019s fisheries center, where I was primarily tasked with understanding the evolutionary genetics of marine life and various thresholds of adaptations to varying environments, especially climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contrary to the media drumbeat of apocalypse, I found that fishes are highly resilient and facing no crisis from climatic variations. In its 2024 report<\/a> on \u201cThe State of World Fisheries and Agriculture,\u201d the United Nation\u2019s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) states that \u201cfisheries and aquaculture production reached an all-time high of 223.2 million metric tons (in 2022), worth a record $472 billion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. East Coast and Gulf of America witnessed modest and selective increases in fish landings during 2022 and 2023. The data show \u201ccapture fisheries production has remained largely unchanged for decades\u201d despite reported concerns about climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fishes caught in the wild and produced in aquaculture \u201cconstituted about 15% of the animal protein supply, reaching over 50% in several countries in Asia and Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is great news given how malnutrition and protein deficiency kill millions of children and adults each year. In 2023, India\u2019s marine fish landings reached 3.55 million metric tons, up from 2022\u2019s 3.51 million tons and a whopping surge of nearly 16% from 2021\u2019s 3.06 million tons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there will be no shortage in the future. Global \u201caquatic animal production is expected to increase by 10% by 2032 to reach 205 million tons,\u201d with aquaculture expansion and capture fisheries accounting for most of the rise in production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate change, we were told, will make fish farming impossible: Warmer waters breed disease, disrupt breeding cycles and turn ponds into dead zones. Yet, the FAO reports that aquaculture is growing in tropical regions like Southeast Asia and India, where temperatures are already high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warm water species like sardines and anchovies \u2013 backbones of India\u2019s catch \u2013 thrive in temperatures that would make a polar cod blanch. India\u2019s tropical waters, averaging 77 \u2013 80 degrees Fahrenheit, are a sweet spot for these stocks, and 2023\u2019s landings bear that out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the states of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, brackish water shrimp farming is a gold mine, with exports raking in billions. Farmers aren\u2019t wringing their hands over CO2<\/sub>; they\u2019re tweaking feed, monitoring water quality and breeding hardier strains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why the endless dirge about dying oceans? It\u2019s not about evidence; it\u2019s about ideology. Alarmism gets clicks, grants and political clout. Stories about \u201cfishless seas by 2048\u201d ignore recovery trends and push alarmism. Activists amplify the noise, cherry-picking data to push anti-fishing agendas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, oceans face challenges. But the narrative of inevitable collapse serves neither science nor society. It distracts from solvable problems like plastic waste and habitat destruction, while demonizing carbon dioxide, which is greening Earth and enriching aquatic food chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India\u2019s delicious coconut fish curry is representative not of climate despair but of nature\u2019s fecundity \u2013 a reminder that human ingenuity and nature\u2019s resilience can coexist. As global fisheries break records, let us replace fear with facts, and apocalyptic rhetoric with actionable stewardship.<\/em><\/strong> The fish, it seems, are doing just fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This commentary was first published at [your]NEWS<\/a> on April 9, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vijay Jayaraj<\/a> is a Science and Research Associate at the <\/em>CO2<\/sub> Coalition<\/em><\/a>, Arlington, Virginia. He <\/em>holds an M.S. in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia and a postgraduate degree in energy management from Robert Gordon University, both in the U.K., and a bachelor\u2019s in engineering from Anna<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amidst the serene backwaters of Alleppey in Southern India, where emerald waters weave through coconut groves, there emerges a dish that embodies the soul of coastal India \u2013\u00a0Fish Moilee.\u00a0 A representation of India\u2019s maritime bounty, the dish is a golden-hued masterpiece of silky-smooth coconut cream, tender fish and fragrant spices simmered to perfection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":374919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691829997,691818056,691834434,691834432,691834433,691834431],"class_list":{"0":"post-374917","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-carbon-dioxide-co","9":"tag-climate-change","10":"tag-food-chains","11":"tag-global-fisheries","12":"tag-greening-earth","13":"tag-united-nations-food-and-agricultural-organization-fao","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0-Fish-Moilee.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1zx3","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":217653,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=217653","url_meta":{"origin":374917,"position":0},"title":"JAYARAJ: Climate Change Transformed India into an Agricultural Superpower \u2014 Just Ask My Grandparents","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/09\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Today\u2019s warmth and CO2 levels are a boon to human civilization, not a bane. 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