August 6, 2014 — Research has highlighted the negative effect acidification of oceans can have on marine life, but now fishing communities are waking up to the big threat it poses to their livelihoods.
The waters off the US state of Alaska are some of the best fishing grounds anywhere, teeming with salmon and with shellfish such as crab.
But a new study, funded by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), says growing acidification of Alaska’s waters, particularly those off the southern coast, threatens the state’s whole economy − largely dependent on the fishing industry.
The study, which appears in the journal Progress in Oceanography, says that not only will the state’s commercial fishing sector be badly hit by a growth in acidification, but it will also affect subsistence fisherpeople whose diet mainly consists of the catch from local waters.
Forming acid
The oceans act as a “carbon sink”, absorbing vast amounts of carbon dioxide. Acidification occurs when amounts of carbon dioxide are dissolved into seawater, where it forms carbolic acid.
Scientists say the oceans are now 30% more acidic than they were at the beginning of the industrial revolution about 250 years ago.
Read the full story at Responding to Climate Change