New Zealand’s sea temperatures have hit record highs, outstripping global averages threefold in one region, and prompting alarm over the health of the country’s marine life and ecosystems.

“Even small rises in temperature can disrupt marine ecosystems, cause some species to relocate, and increase disease risks,” said Stuart Jones, the environmental and agricultural statistics manager at Stats NZ.

Previous intense marine heatwaves have already been linked to mass sea sponge bleaching in New Zealand, die-offs of southern bull kelp, large scale fish strandings and penguin deaths.

Both Cornwall and Pinkerton add that the extent to which warmer oceans will disrupt ecosystems is still poorly understood, and long-term monitoring is needed to anticipate and plan for changes, particularly when assessing fishing quotas.

A separate Stats NZ dataset, released on Wednesday, showed phytoplankton – microscopic algae that form the base of marine food-webs – is tending to decrease in New Zealand’s warmer northern waters.

Meanwhile, New Zealanders will also feel the effects of warming seas, with the ocean dictating much of the island nation’s weather, said Dr Georgia Grant, a climate scientist at GNS Science.

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