Changing climate hurting shellfish market

(CBS News) QUILCENE, Wash. - The price of corn shot up 5 percent Thursday on a prediction from the government that this year's harvest would be the smallest in six years.

Much of the crop has been damaged by drought. Another crop affected by the changes in climate is hurting more than the farmers who work the land.

On the shores of Washington State's Olympic Peninsula, Bill Dewey is a shell fish farmer. He's been raising oysters, clams and mussels for 30 years.

Economic decline reduces carbon emissions slightly
Issue brief: Energy and Environment

"I'm in shellfish heaven -- just a gift of Mother Nature," Dewey said.

The Oyster Hatchery pumps in sea water to nurture baby oysters. They start life as microscopic specks of plankton.

Dewey said that the water may look dark when you first look at it, "But in fact there's 20 million baby oysters in this little tank in front of us here."

But suddenly, the ocean water is preventing new oysters from forming shells -- so they died.

"It dissolves the shells of the oysters we're trying to grow in it," Dewey said, saying that they were very vulnerable at this stage.

Dewey described the oyster die-off to hundreds of scientists gathered in Monterey, Calif., to study rising acid levels in world's oceans. They call it "ocean acidification" and with Google,

This map, produced by Google and scientists, shows the expected rise in ocean acid levels.

/ CBS News

showing the long-term impact. The deepening red illustrates the expected rise in ocean acid levels over the next three centuries.

What is turning the oceans to acid is carbon dioxide from cars and factories. Thirty percent of CO2 released into the atmosphere is absorbed by the oceans. Oysters are the first victims.

"We're the so-called canary in the coal mine here" Dewey said.

At the hatchery, the sea water pumped in is now constantly monitored so the intakes can be closed when acid levels rise.

"Inevitably, as the ocean conditions get worse, we're not going to have a choice. We're only going to have bad water. So we need to figure out how to work with it," Dewey said.

For now, the hatchery can manage acid levels. But in nature, baby oysters by the millions are an important part of the food chain that is threatened now by ocean acidification. Bigger fish get affected because they don't have food to eat anymore.

There is now so much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that scientists say acid levels in the oceans will keep rising for 50 years, even if emissions are cut immediately.

[GossamerWings]

This is why I support green jobs. I'm so tired of the oil addiction.

[ThomasSense]

The story speaks for itself. The evidence is shown that oyster shells are being damaged. There has also been news stories about coral reefs being damaged by increased acidity of the oceans. I gleaned a couple websites below.

Kuhn: your rebuttal is a letter written by a meteorologist! Climate change is real.

"A change of 0.5 units might not sound as a very big change, but the pH scale is logaritmic meaning that such a change is equivalent to a three fold increase in H+ concentration. All this is happening at a speed 100 times greater than has ever been observed during the geological past. Several marine species, communities and ecosystems might not have the time to acclimate or adapt to these fast changes in ocean chemistry."
http://www.epoca-project.eu/index.php/what-is-ocean-acidification.html
"A more acidic ocean could wipe out species, disrupt the food web and impact fishing, tourism and any other human endeavor that relies on the sea.
The change is happening fast -- and it will take fast action to slow or stop it. Over the last 250 years, oceans have absorbed 530 billion tons of CO2, triggering a 30 percent increase in ocean acidity.
Before people started burning coal and oil, ocean pH had been relatively stable for the previous 20 million years. But researchers predict that if carbon emissions continue at their current rate, ocean acidity will more than double by 2100." http://www.nrdc.org/oceans/acidification/
• "If atmospheric CO2 can be stabilized at 450 ppm, (one possible target that has been discussed by politicians) only 8% of existing tropical and subtropical coral reefs will still be in waters of the right pH level to support their growth.
• Within decades, Ocean Acidification will also start to have major impacts on temperate and polar water ecosystems. In fact, colder water absorbs higher levels of CO2 than warmer water. Our polar seas are already so acidic that they are starting to dissolve some shells" http://oceanacidification.net/

[KuhnKat]

When you broadcast one sided agenda driven stories like this you really should offer views from other real scientists!!

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/06/30/noaas-pacific-marine-environment-laboratory-carbon-program-goes-overboard-on-ocean-acidification/