Stretches of ocean off British Columbia’s coast are increasingly being starved of oxygen — an emerging threat that, if left unchecked, could have devastating impacts on the region’s marine life and fisheries, a new study says.

The research , recently published in the Journal Global Biochemical Cycles, focused on Queen Charlotte Sound, Pacific Canada’s largest sea sitting over a continental shelf.

Samuel Stevens, a researcher at the Hakai Institute who led the study, said the more frequent, more widespread low-oxygen events, known as hypoxia, tended to occur in the summer months.

In some cases, extreme hypoxia — the point where falling oxygen levels damage and stress marine organisms — was found to be more severe than anything previously recorded.

“For a number of reasons, climate cha

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