That culprit, ocean acidification, is the caustic cousin of climate change, and it shifts the chemistry of ocean water, making it harder for oysters to grow. That’s because about 30 percent of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere is absorbed by the ocean, causing pH levels to plummet and making the water more acidic. The more pollution in the air, the more carbon dioxide the ocean absorbs.
Weird things are happening off the Pacific Coast.
And at the center of the action is a warm-water mass that scientists call “the blob.”
It’s turning the coastal ecosystem on its head. Species are dying along Washington, Oregon and northern California: sea stars, marine birds and sardines, among them.
Governments that call themselves civilized have been largely ignoring the outlaw aspects of the oceans for centuries. The question is how much longer normal mayhem will continue, as the limits of the globe become ever clearer. “Like the Wild West,” is how Mr. Young described the maritime realm. “Weak rules, few sheriffs, lots of outlaws.”
Some of the largest population declines, according to the report, include terns at 85.8 percent. Frigatebirds decline by up to 81.7 percent. Petrels declines followed at 79.6 percent, while cormorants and shags populations dropped by up to 73.6 percent.
Sailors said the worse place for debris was the Malacca Strait, which divides the Indonesian island of Sumatra from Malaysia. So much debris can be found there that Charlie Enright, the youngest skipper in this year’s event, said one “could walk across that stretch of water on the trash.”
University of Queensland research highlighting the devastating impact of marine rubbish on wildlife has taken out the 2015 Healthy Waterways Research Award at the weekend. The study, by researchers at UQ’s North Stradbroke Island Moreton Bay Research Station, sought to… Read More ›
One of the most spectacular fisheries collapses in U.S. history occurred off the West Coast in the 1950s, when hundreds of boats severely overfished a Pacific sardine population already in decline from a natural down-cycle. The resulting crash decimated the… Read More ›
Santa Cruz >> Nutrient loading in the ground and surface waters has long been a problem in the Monterey Bay, which is surrounded by major agricultural land and urban areas. Chemical fertilizers spill into streams and the sea, threatening marine… Read More ›
FRISCO — Biologists looking at 40 years of fisheries data from Puget Sound have documented a dramatic shift in marine species. Key fish in the food chain, like herring and smelt, have declined, while the number of jellyfish has increased… Read More ›
The chemicals that Padula looks for in sea birds are called phthalates. They are a family of chemicals used to make plastic more flexible, and they can leach into the muscle and liver tissues of birds.
Padula found those chemicals in all of the birds she collected in the west Aleutians. But only some birds had visible pieces of plastic in their stomach.
Neptune 911! 