A favourite of many British Columbians, could be far less available in the near future as they face

 "People might think climate change effects in the oceans are remote, but our study shows that climate change is affecting everyone," said Cheung.

Harley said he's hopeful that the populations of barnacles and mussels have proven resilient — but he remains concerned about the potential for another dangerous heat wave in 2022.

"The analogy that I use is when you get a sunburn, that's bad. If you get a second sunburn before the first one heals, that's when you're more likely to get skin cancer. And the system hasn't healed yet," he said.

"I think ecologists like myself are caught a little bit on the back foot because things are changing faster than we had expected them to."

Cheung said the Humboldt squid, a warm water species, was hardly found on restaurant menus before the 1990s, but has popped up more and more frequently in recent years. He also projects that sardines, a warm-watered species that faced population collapse in the 1950s, will once again become a staple of restaurant menus in B.C. as they swim up the current to warmer waters.

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