Ocean Acidification in the Pacific Northwest.
Living in the modern world has its advantages. We walk around with small computers in our pockets and can access just about any information or service we’d like within seconds. We enjoy luxuries that people born one hundred years ago could never have dreamed of. But these luxuries and our over-reliance on our natural resources and fossil fuels to create and maintain them come at a cost. You can’t get through a news program these days without hearing about the growing number of pressing issues plaguing our local, national, and global environments as a result of the pressure we are putting on our natural resources to sustain and expand our current lifestyle. Warnings for issues like global warming, water contamination, droughts, pandemics, deforestation, rampant wildfires, etc. flash across our television and smartphone screens, and it can feel like the end of life as we know it is near. While these are all important issues that we need to be aware of and be actively working to reverse, there is one issue that currently plagues the Pacific Northwest to a higher degree than most other places on Earth, and that is ocean acidification.
In her TEDx talk, Ocean Acidification in Washington State, Dr. Shallin Busch, Ph.D. defines ocean acidification as, “…an increase in ocean acidity due to increased atmospheric ”. While some level of absorption of carbon dioxide by our oceans is normal, our increased reliance on fossil fuels has led to an exponential increase of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere and has caused an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide that our oceans are taking in. As our oceans take in more carbon dioxide and the carbon dioxide and water combine, they form carbonic acid that breaks into hydrogen ions and bicarbonate ions. This increase in hydrogen has tipped the balance and has led to a decrease in the pH levels of our oceans, rendering them more acidic. Our oceans are 30% more acidic than they were in the early stages of the industrial revolution, with 15% of that change occurring since the 1990s. Scientists predict that by the year 2100 seas could be 150% more acidic than they were in the 18th century. The west coast of the United States is affected more greatly by ocean acidification due to our strong upwelling events that bring cold, nutrient-rich waters up to the surface creating an already carbon-rich environment. When combined with excess carbon from the atmosphere and man-made pollution entering the local waters, acidification occurs. This acidification impacts ocean organisms up and down the food web. As hydrogen increases, it bonds with the available carbonate ions. A reduction in available carbonate ions caused by this chemical reaction makes it harder for a calcifying organism to build and maintain its shells and hard structures. This is problematic for many reasons. Scientists have also discovered that acidic waters affect the behavior of fish leading some fish to exhibit more dangerous behavior that increases their risk of death from larger predators and may impede their ability to find safe shelter.
Many ocean organisms living in Pacific Northwest seas rely on carbonate ions to build and maintain their exterior shells and skeletons. As oceans become more acidic, organisms like pteropods, which make up an important part of our ocean food web, aren’t able to build or maintain their exterior shell, thereby reducing their availability to larger ocean species and affecting the food chain from the bottom up. The reduction in pteropods impacts other local ocean organisms like krill, baby pink salmon, herring, pollock, whales, and more. The reduction in the pteropod population would also have impacts on sea birds. At the human level, ocean acidification has impacts on food availability as well as economic ramifications here in the Pacific Northwest. Like pteropods, local shellfish also rely on carbonate ions for their shell production. In the mid-2000 oyster farmers in Willapa Bay began noticing that they were having trouble producing oysters. This issue eventually led farmers and researchers to the relationship between ocean acidification and the reduction in oyster populations in local waters. Washington State is home to the largest producers of farmed and hatchery-raised shellfish. These 300+ farms produce 25% of the total domestic production of shellfish by weight and have an annual economic value of $108 million. Recreational shellfishing is big fun and big business here in the PNW. Each year the state brings in approximately 27 million dollars in revenue from recreational shellfishing. The local commercial seafood industry as a whole creates tens of thousands of jobs and accounts for $1.7 billion of the gross state product. Any disruption to the commercial seafood industry would severely impact both small communities that rely heavily on these coastal jobs to feed and care for their families, as well as negatively impact our state’s budget.
Scientists have only begun to scratch the surface of how ocean acidification will impact our oceans and all who dwell in and around them. What they have already uncovered should make us all stop and consider how we can help reverse this acidification. Left unchecked, ocean acidification will lead to a breakdown in the ocean food chain which could have ripple effects for both sea life and humans. A billion people worldwide get their main source of animal protein from the ocean. A large reduction in larger ocean organisms like fish because of declining pteropod populations could lead to poor health outcomes from starvation or from eating unhealthy sea life. Communities that rely on commercial fishing or shellfish farming would suffer great economic losses which will have trickle-down effects on the families that rely on this income. Tourism would take a hit in places like Pike Place Market where locals and visitors flock to purchase fresh fish, crab, shellfish, and more as well as along the PNW coasts where people enjoy recreational shellfishing. As Craig Welch explains in his Seattle Times article, Seachange – the Pacific’s Perilous Turn, “…souring seas and ocean warming are expected to reduce even more of the plants and animals we depend on for food and income. The changes will increase ocean pests, such as jellyfish, and make the system more vulnerable to disasters and disease”. We could also expect to see an increasing number of toxic algal blooms like red tides along our coastlines as phytoplankton eats up the excess carbon in the waters. And these are just the known ramifications of ocean acidification. More time and research are needed to understand the full scope of this issue.
Ocean acidification is not to be taken lightly. We must each take personal action to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and encourage our local leaders to make the necessary changes to stop and reverse the effects of acidification in our beautiful Pacific Northwest waters. I hope that with a little effort on the part of each individual, positive change and outcomes are possible.
References
International Atomic Energy Council, The Ocean Carbon Cycle. (no date listed), https://www.iaea.org/topics/oceans-and-climate-change/the-ocean-carbon-cycle
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, Ocean Acidification. (April 01, 2020), https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/ocean-coasts/ocean-acidification
Ocean Acidification in Washington State, created by Shallin Busch, Ph.D. at TEDx. (Youtube: May 01, 2013). Video file, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQri6H0ebws
Pacific Shellfish Institute, Where we Work Washington. (2021), https://www.pacshell.org/washington.asp
Welch, Craig. “Seachange – The Pacific’s perilous Turn”. The Seattle Times. 2014. http://apps.seattletimes.com/reports/sea-change/2013/sep/11/pacific-ocean-perilous-turn-overview/