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Global warming or climate change has claimed its first victims in islanders of Chesapeake Bay located in continental United States. The rising seas consumed the historic fishing village in the island, according to Yahoo News. The research published in the journal scientific reports suggests that residing in the Tangier Island would have to relocate their fishing community within 50 years due to its steadily shrinking size. As per the climate talks in Paris, "Tangier is kind of ground zero," said oceanographer David M. Schulte, lead author of the research. The research funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said that new infrastructure like breakwaters will be able to protect Tangier Island from devastation.

The endangered existence of the island is no news to the islanders who have witnesses other islands perished through the decades. Carol Pruitt-Moore, a resident of Tangier Island said, "I think it'll be less than 50 years. We are one storm away from being washed away or being forced to evacuate." The Tangier Islands is all the more vulnerable to climate change due to its low-lying position and the rising seas which is gradually sinking the bay, known as subsidence, according to ABC News.

There are approximately 700 people presently living in Tangier. The watermen of the island are skilled fishermen, responsible for the bay's popular crabs and oysters. The homes are built beyond the reach of rising waters, rising atop ridges. The graves also had to be interred so that the remains could be moved to prevent swamping. The researchers say that only one-third of the island's landmass is left remaining, as compared to what it was in 1850. The climate change scientists have predicted the limited future of Tangier Island because of its sinking lands and rising seas, reports Yahoo News.