Earth Equity News

Ocean Acidification Hits Northwest Oyster Farms. By Darcy Bonfils, ABC News, April 22, 2010. "Mark Wiegardt and Sue Cudd have each dedicated about 30 years of their lives to bringing oysters to our tables. Now the two have found themselves in the forefront of one of the newest, most pressing environmental issues of our time:ocean acidification. It all began with the oyster larvae at their Whiskey Creek Shellfish Hatchery in Tilamook, Ore. 'It first started in 2007. We had a situation here when all of a sudden, our larvae started dying,' said Wiegardt… Desperate, Wiegardt and Cudd turned to expert oceanographer Burke Hales and his team from Oregon State University to study the new and alarming enigma. They learned that the Pacific waters piped into their hatchery from nearby Netarts Bay were the cause of the dying larvae… The scientists went to work and learned that something was making the oceans too acidic and preventing the oyster larvae from growing shells. No shells means certain death… 'The chemistry is very simple. It is 101... 'While the effects are just beginning to be seen in our hatcheries, the oceans are now changing faster than they have ever changed over the last 200 million years,' said Richard Freely of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who has been studying ocean acidification for 20 years. 'effects can be seen in the weaker shells of oysters, clams, mussels, lobsters and shrimp. Smaller-shelled creatures, such as those at the bottom of the food chain, which most fish eat, are also dwindling away,' said Freely. 'Corals have a hard time forming too.' Ocean acidity, said Freely, threatens the entire $2 billion U.S. shellfish industry."