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| The shellfish harvest in Willapa Bay. http://seattletimes.com/ABPub/2009/06/11/2009329350.jpg |
The $100 million a year oyster industry in Washington has been deeply impacted by the acidification of the sea water that is used for raising the oyster larvae.
In 2009, after learning about the likely cause, ocean acidification, Dave Nisbet chose to move part of his business to Hawaii rather than fight the deadly conditions. Now the larvae are raised in Hawaii and shipped back to Willapa Bay when they have reached a less vulnerable life stage. Hawaii does not receive the same level of upwelling as Willapa Bay and has not been as intensely acidified as a result, at least not yet.21
Other hatcheries monitor the acidity of the ocean water entering their tanks to shut down the flow when it becomes too acidic and some have even tried added sodium carbonate to neutralize the acidity. 9
Many shellfish businesses, like Shyna Wysocki's family's Chelsea Farms,
are greatly challenged by the changes coming with ocean acidification. They
have seen the short and long term impacts and are worried about their oysters.1
Coral Reef destruction
In addition to attracting tourists from around the world, coral reefs provide many other important services. They prevent destruction of the coast and houses and buildings near the beach by acting as a buffer against waves, storms and floods. Several million people in the U.S. and many millions in other countries live adjacent to coral reefs and rely on this protective capacity of coral reefs, but ocean acidification and nutrient runoff are damaging many of these ecosystems.11
With the business as usual emission projections, coral reefs could begin to disintegrate on a large scale by 2050.14
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| Calcifying organisms account for about half of the current ocean harvest. Many of the other harvested species are predators of calcifiers or predators of those predators. Ocean acidification is a threat to this entire food web. http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/viewArticle.do?id=65266 |
In 2007, US commercial fisheries had approximately $4 billion in revenues for first sales. A large percentage of the harvested species were calcifiers that are directly impacted by ocean acidification because they are less able to form and maintain their shells. The other half of the species were predators of calcifiers or predators of their predators. When the base of the food web is threatened, every aspect of that ecosystem will be impacted. Molluscs appear to be the most vulnerable, but we don't yet know how their vulnerability might impact other trophic levels.6