His sonar instrument made an unusual reading 12 km off the coast of Australia.

A fisherman detects unusual phenomenon off the coast: “It’s the hottest I’ve seen”
After years working in the same area, fisherman develop an instinctive sense when something is amiss. That sensation struck Nick Moulas shortly after setting out on a fishing charter last week.
Moulas noticed something unusual on his fish finder, a sonar instrument with a temperature reading that helps to detect fish. The device measures the temperatures of the seas and Moulas was shocked to see a reading of 27.1 degrees Celsius, around 3 degrees above the average.
That may not sound like a lot, but sea temperatures are typically very regular and an increase of that scale was immediately spotted by Moulas.
“It is very hot,” he told Yahoo News. “A lot of people haven’t seen it like that, that close to shore. We commonly get 25, maybe 26 out a little bit further. So if you get it in that close, it’s not normal.”
2024 saw Australia’s hottest seas on record
Moulas is the owner of Shell Cove Fishing Charters and had stopped at a Fish Aggregating Device stationed on a buoy around 12km out from shore. With warmer waters heading into Australia’s winter, Moulas is optimistic that the change could ensure that marlin remain around for much longer, a boon for his business.
However climate scientists are less thrilled with this marked increase in localised sea temperatures. Weatherzone meteorologist Quincy Tut cited climate change and short-term climate factors, such as La Niña, as the reason for the increase.
"Waters were, globally, the warmest on record in 2024, that’s something that’s been quite significant,” Tut explained. “The stronger easterly currents along the equator are pushing that warm water towards Australia, that’s contributing as well.
“If you picture Australia in the middle of two basins, the Indian Ocean to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east, the way that the waters are moving, it’s maintaining that warm pool of water surrounding Australia. That’s the simplest way I can put it.”
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