Ocean Acidification

CFA Board members are active in the fight for ocean health. CFA Vice President Jeremy Brown is working to bring attention to Ocean Acidification. To learn more about Jeremy’s work, read this in-depth feature from Seattle Met magazine.

CFA Asks Congress to Act on Ocean Acidification

On April 17, 2010 the CFA signed onto a letter to the Subcommitee on Oceans, Science, and Transportation in the U.S. Senate to request help from policy makers to mitigate the causes and reduce the economic harm resulting from ocean acidification. (Click here to read the letter)

Ocean acidification occurs when CO2 dissolves in seawater and carbonic acid is formed.  According to ongoing studies, this CO2 is primarily being released from the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and other human activities. Scientists are predicting that the current rate of change in acidity and the predicted acidity for 2100 are outside the range experienced by the oceans for at least half a million years. This rapid change is expected to affect the growth of plankton, which will have serious consequences for the productivity and functioning of marine ecosystems.

Phytoplankton performs two-thirds of the Earth’s photosynthesis, which converts light, nutrients and carbon dioxide into food. The amount of CO2 processed by phytoplankton during photosynthesis affects concentrations of CO2 in the water, which subsequently determines how much greenhouse gas the oceans can absorb. Each year the ocean absorbs approximately one-fourth of the CO2 emitted from human activities.

Climate change would affect land use patterns, as areas that have been arable are likely to shift and some currently arable lands may not be able to support food production anymore. Similarly, wild lands set aside to protect biodiversity would be affected and may become unable to support the ecosystems we initially set aside to protect.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted that increased frequency of heat stress, droughts and floods will negatively affect land food production, and that climate variability will modify the risks of fires, pest and pathogen outbreaks, effecting food, fiber and forestry.

In the oceans, the full impact of acidification on marine ecosystems and fisheries remains largely unknown.  Changing ocean temperatures will affect the numbers and locations of different species of fish and scientists are predicting a large scale redistribution of fish species.

A current study by the University of British Columbia suggests that certain regions like Norway, Greenland, Alaska and the east coast of Russia will benefit from climate change in terms of fisheries redistribution, while Indonesia, Chile, China and the United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) can expect decreases. Current conservation and fisheries management measures do not account for climate-driven species distribution shifts.

A healthy domestic fishing fleet is key to maintaining the Unites States’ food sovereignty in a time of unpredictable climate change and would offer adaptability as erratic weather and hostile ocean conditions increase.

Climate change and its root cause may alter how the seafood sector does business. For example, exporting fish to Asia for processing may soon cease as carbon emitted during transportation renders the practice impractical due to environmental restrictions or economic impediments, as the true costs of such practices are factored in.