Climate change is causing such dire problems for marine species that scientists are considering trying radical, previously ‘sacrilege’ methods to save them, they said today.

“From the poles to the equator, the effects of climate change are truly among us,” Emily Pidgeon of Conservation International told the meeting. “These ecosystems we cherish now will be fundamanetally different in the coming decades, independent of any action we may take.”

As an example, University of Washington, Seattle biologist Dee Boersma talked about Magellanic penguins, which she has studied at one site in Argentina for 26 years. The male penguins travel an average of 25 miles farther to find food, and the females lay their eggs an average of three days later than they did a decade ago, because the anchovies they love to eat are moving north. The penguins are also moving their nests, Boersma said – away from their reserve and onto unprotected private land.

It’s scary stories like these that are prompting conservation scientists to revisit the once-taboo idea of “assisted migration” – moving animals to places where they stand a better chance of surviving the impact of climate change.

The idea was once considered ‘sacrilege,’ Pidgeon said. But, she added, “More and more I’ve been in discussions where we’re deciding that we have to put all the options on the table,” even though, as she admitted, assisted migration “still has a certain bad smell to it.”

Photo by Graham Harris/Wildlife Conservation Society