As scientific studies continue to reveal how carbon emissions are making the world’s oceans more acidic, one prominent academic from British Columbia suggests that the rapidly changing marine chemistry could also eventually negatively affect the economies of some coastal communities. If the recent collapse of a scallop fishery off the coast of B.C.’s Vancouver Island is any indication, those negative changes may already be well underway.

Karen Kohfeld, a Simon Fraser University associate professor and a Canada Research Chair in Climate, Resource, and Global Change, said scientists have learned much about the oceans’ chemical makeup in the past three decades but are less certain about how the increased acid levels will affect ecosystems.

“There may be some species that adapt better than others,” Kohfeld told DeSmog Canada on Thursday. “And in the end, we are just beginning to understand how ocean acidification could impact our coastal fisheries in the long run.”

Although she noted that carbon dioxide exists in the ocean naturally through rotting plants and dead organisms, Kohfeld said that scientific evidence suggests that oceans have become about 30 per cent more acidic since fossil fuels began being burned in the Industrial Revolution approximately 250 years ago.

If that trend continues, she said, oceans could be between 100 per cent and 150 per cent more acidic by the end of this century.

“That is very alarming,” she said, referring to the relative speed that acid levels are increasing in the world’s oceans, cover more than 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface.

About 40 per cent of atmospheric carbon dioxide ends up in oceans where it dissolves and releases an acid that makes it more difficult for some organisms, notably shellfish, to develop properly. Scientists and media outlets have been reporting recently that scallop and oyster farms in the Pacific Northwest have struggled with the increased acid levels.

Scientist are also concerned with a recent mysterious wasting disease that is killing off numerous species of starfish or sea stars along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America. The illness causes white lesions on the animal’s body before it ruptures, spilling out internal organs.

“The magnitude of it is very concerning,” said Cornell University ecologist Drew Harvell. “There’s the potential that some of these species could actually go extinct.”

Oceans have absorbed approximately 525 billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, or about one third of the anthropogenic (human-caused) carbon emissions released both from industrial processes (mostly fossil fuel burning) and changes in land use practices (deforestation and urbanization), the University of Alaska says. “This absorption of CO2 has mitigated warming in the atmosphere, but is having negative impacts on the chemistry and biology of the oceans. When CO2 is added to the oceans it lowers the pH causing the upper ocean to become more acidic.”

Kohfeld said that acidification does not occur at the same rate in the world’s oceans. As an example, she said the ability for organisms to form shells is more difficult in colder waters like the North Pacific compared to waters near the equator because colder temperatures dissolve more carbon dioxide.

“One of the things we are seeing is that acidification is affecting organisms at different life stages,” she said adding she suspects scientists are going to start to see more related impacts on communities dependent on harvesting shellfish.

The California Current Acidification Network website notes “coastal ecosystems are particularly sensitive to three key drivers related to climate change: sea level, ocean temperature and ocean acidification.”

A recent National Climate Assessment (NCA) report in the U.S. said “increasing levels of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities have a direct effect on the world’s oceans.”

The NCA report added “ocean acidification makes water more corrosive, reducing the capacity of marine organisms with shells or skeletons made of calcium carbonate (such as corals, krill, oysters, clams, and crabs) to survive, grow, and reproduce, which in turn will affect the marine food chain.”

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has reported “ocean acidification poses substantial risks to marine ecosystems, especially polar ecosystems and coral reefs, associated with impacts on the physiology, behavior, and population dynamics of individual species from phytoplankton to animals.”

The IPCC says ocean acidification, along with warming, decreased oxygen levels and pollution “can lead to interactive, complex, and amplified impacts for species and ecosystems.”

Assessing how acidification is changing the world’s oceans is hugely important to the survival of humankind. According to the United Nations, more than three billion people depend on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihoods. The UN also says the market value of marine and coastal resources and industries is estimated at $3 trillion per year or about 5 per cent of global GDP.

Some people call ocean acidification “that other CO2 problem,” Kohfeld said, “and it’s an example of how climate change is more than just a higher temperature.”

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This is a guest post by Caitlyn Vernon and Torrance Coste.

The February 25th headline, “10 million scallops are dead; company lays off staff,” hit British Columbians like a punch in the stomach. The shellfish industry has been an economic powerhouse on central Vancouver Island for decades, providing hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue every year – over $30 million in average wholesale value. 

But when we talk about shellfish, we aren’t just talking jobs and economics. We are talking about food. Shellfish harvesting is one of our most robust local food systems, and the prospect of losing this industry makes us all feel, quite frankly, a little hungry.

Of the possible causes of the recent scallop die-off, ocean acidification seems the most likely. Ocean acidification is directly connected to climate change and to our runaway consumption of fossil fuels. In short, acidification occurs when carbon is absorbed into the ocean from the atmosphere, making the water more acidic. Acidification strips the ocean of carbonate ions, which marine species like scallops and oysters need to build their shells, therefore reducing the ability of these species to survive.

For years, groups like the B.C. Shellfish Growers Association have been raising the alarm about the verified threat of acidification to the shellfish industry.

Roberta Stevenson, the Association’s Executive Director, told us that the public and our elected decision-makers need to understand how serious the situation is for shellfish growers on B.C.’s coast. She said the significant economic benefits the industry provides could disappear if we don’t start to see the health of the oceans as an economic priority.

A major source of atmospheric carbon is the burning of fossil fuels: oil, coal, and gas. Here in B.C., we have a stake in important decisions over whether or not to build fossil fuel export infrastructure. The proposed Enbridge and Kinder Morgan pipelines, the prospective B.C. LNG industry, and the proposed Raven Coal Mine will all put much more carbon into the atmosphere, further acidifying the ocean and directly threatening the survival of shellfish species and coastal communities.

All these proposed projects need our consent. It’s important that we make the right choices and get on a path to a low-carbon future.

The recent scallop die-off is a clear illustration of what we will face if we don’t act now to reduce our carbon emissions. Climate change and ocean acidification will continue to have devastating consequences; not just for coastal economies, communities, and families, but for anyone who depends on the ocean as a source of food.

What’s more, coal, oil, and gas are finite resources, guaranteed to go bust when they run out, become too expensive, or when the environmental impacts are deemed not worth the risk. Any financial benefits we gain from extracting and exporting them will one day disappear completely. We will be left with the socio-economic hardship and lingering environmental problems well-known to many communities where boom-bust extractive industries have run their course.

By continuing to promote the extraction and export of coal, tar sands, and fracked gas instead of sustainable sectors in B.C., our government is making a political choice to prioritize short-term profits over renewable industries that can provide economic stability and contribute to viable, healthy communities over the long term.

We all deserve good jobs that don’t destroy our children’s future. For the sake of these shellfish and the families that depend on them, let’s work together to develop a smart and creative strategy to transition away from fossil fuels and toward a low carbon economy – with meaningful jobs in sustainable industries that don’t compromise ecosystems. A healthy coast is one with abundant food that can still be pulled from the ocean, as it always has been.

If we keep pumping carbon into our atmosphere we’re investing in an acidic ocean for decades if not centuries to come, and we’re forsaking the sustainable shellfish industry and the communities, businesses, and jobs it supports.

Caitlyn Vernon is Campaigns Director for Sierra Club B.C. Find her on twitter: @caitlynvernon. Torrance Coste is Vancouver Island Campaigner for the Wilderness Committee. Find him on twitter: @TorranceCoste.

This article originally appeared in the Times Colonist. Reprinted with permission.

Image Credit: The Scallop by 5k1nnyt1g3r via flickr.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.