Thinking Citizen Blog — Oceanic Effects — Fish, Shellfish, Acidification — Pacific Northwest, New England
Thinking Citizen Blog: Wednesday is Climate Change, the Environment, and Sustainability Day
Today’s Topic: Oceanic Effects — fish, shellfish, acidification — Pacific Northwest, New England
Warmer temperatures mean many fish are migrating toward the poles. “The biggest decreases in maximum catch potential can be expected in the tropics, mostly in the South Pacific regions.” “It is projected that “climate change decreases the modeled global fish community biomass by as much as 30% by 2100". Is this a reasonable estimate? A gross exaggeration? An underestimation?
Whom would you trust? Are there any analysts out there whose work is not polluted by partisan bias?
Today, a few more notes.
What do you know about the impact of climate change on the oceans that the rest of us may not but should?
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
“THE RISING OCEAN ACIDITY MAKES IT MORE DIFFICULT FOR MARINE ORGANISMS SUCH AS SHRIMP, OYSTERS, OR CORALS TO FORM THEIR SHELLS — A PROCESS KNOWN AS CALCIFICATION.”
1. “Many important animals, such as zooplankton, that forms the base of the marine food chain have calcium shells.”
2. “This the entire marine food web is being altered — there are ‘cracks in the food chain.’”
3. “As a result, the distribution of global fish production is changing generating complex and inter-related impacts on oceans, estuaries, coral reefs, mangroves and sea grass beds that provide habitats and nursery areas for fish.”
“OVER THE LAST 200 YEARS OR SO, WE HAVE RELEASED ABOUT TWO TRILLION TONS OF CARBON DIOXIDE INTO THE ATMOSPHERE. AND ABOUT A QUARTER OF THAT, OR 550 BILLION TONS OF CARBON DIOXIDE HAVE BEEN ABSORBED THE THE OCEAN”
1. “Ocean warming (.88 degrees C higher in 2011–2020 compared to 1850–1900, oxygen loss (down 3–4%
by 2100) and ocean acidication (decreased pH by 30% 2023 compared to 1700) may be too fast for species to adapt to the changes.” (9th link below)
2. “Areas in the tropics are predicted to see declines of up to 40% in potential seafood catch by 2050.”
“BECAUSE OF NATURAL TIDE AND WAVE PATTERNS, THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST COAST HAS BEEN HIT HARDEST, WITH CORROSIVE WATER BEING BROUGHT UP FROM THE DEEP OCEAN TO THE SURFACE WHERE SHELLFISH LIVE.” (oysters are most vulnerable at the larval stage)
1. “That’s why Washington’s shellfish industry, worth $270 million a year and responsible for thousands of jobs, is the first to feel the effects of this global phenomenon.”
2. “For oysters, scallops and other shellfish, lower pH means less carbonate, which they rely on to build their essential shells. As acidity increases, shells become thinner, growth slows down and death rates rise.”
3. The most vulnerable are the very, very young oysters — the larvae. “Beginning in 2005, oyster farmers began seeing massive die-offs of up to 80% of their oyster larvae, or “seed”.Young oysters are particularly vulnerable to environmental conditions during the first few days of life when they develop roughly 90% of their body weight as calcium carbonate shell.”
NB: “On the East Coast, growers are starting to worry that they will be hit next. New Bedford, Mass, is America’s top-producing fishing port, and sea scallops, another species vulnerable to acidifcation, makes up 77% of their production.”
Climate change and fisheries — Wikipedia
Fish are migrating towards the poles to escape warming waters
Effects of climate change on oceans — Wikipedia
Ocean Acidification | National Marine Sanctuary Foundation
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Ocean Acidification’s impact on oysters and other shellfish
How climate change impacts marine life
Oyster in the Pacific Northwest, USA | Ocean Tipping Points
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
A LINK TO THE LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED BY THEME:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
ATTACHMENT BELOW -
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
NB: Palestine Orion (Decision) — let’s exchange Orions, let’s find Rumi’s field (“Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. Meet me there” Rumi, 13 century Persian Sufi mystic)
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to climate change or the environment.
Or the coolest, most important thing you learned in your life related to climate change that the rest of us may have missed. Your favorite chart or table perhaps…
This is your chance to make some one’s day. Or to cement in your own mind something that you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than otherwise about something dear to your heart.
