What is happening to our weather, oceans and marine life in the UK?

UK marine life is under threat due to rising sea temperatures. Photo Ellen Cuylaerts

2025 has been a whirlwind of seasons. This summer brought droughts and rising sea temperatures, while spring was the UK’s fourth sunniest season on record with the overall temperature at 9.5°C. 

Thames Water announced today that there is still a housepipe ban for some regions, saying: “Despite recent rainfall, water resources will take time to recover, as we’ve only received 50% of average rainfall in the last six months.”

This summer has been classified by The Met Office as the hottest on record with the average temperature of 16.10°C. When added onto the warm Spring temperatures, our little island has been impacted a lot more than you may think. 

The Met Office mentioned that the sea surface temperatures are getting a ‘mini heat-wave’ of 4°C more than usual in April and May. For marine life, this could be fatal as UK seas typically have much colder climates. 

Consequently, marine life may experience high stress, less reproduction and widespread mortality. In other regions like the Mediterranean, California and the west coast of Australia, marine heat waves have led to less kelp, seagrass and corals, causing fish, mammals and sea birds to decrease in population too. 

An article from the University of Plymouth covers how humans and global warming are the main factors in causing uncertainty to our marines worldwide. It covers how plankton is a major food source for our marine animals and as the sea warms the planktons productivity is decreasing. 

Set on the brink of uncertainty is the future for plankton. These tiny organisms are essential to the oceans’ food chain and ecosystem. With rising global sea temperatures in marines, plankton can not thrive. As a result, the sea has less nutrients and as of the thinning population of these organisms. 

In our UK seas, plankton are the primary food source for crustaceans like lobsters and crabs as well as bigger animals like different types of baleen whales. So, if we have a decrease in plankton there will be a decrease in our marine life too.

If we keep going like this, our weather will become more unpredictable than it is now bringing more droughts and flash flooding.