PORTLAND, Maine — June 30, 2014 — A new state commission this summer is gearing up to study ocean acidification and its impact on shellfish. The commission – the first of its kind on the East Coast – was created this year by the Maine Legislature. The 16-member panel was announced Friday at a news conference on the Portland waterfront that included U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree and state Sen. Chris Johnson, D-Somerville.
Pingree, who last month introduced a bill that would require federal officials to study the effects of ocean acidification on coastal communities around the country, said scientists don’t fully understand how acidification would affect the lobster fishery.
“We know what’s causing ocean acidification but now we need to better understand how hard it is going to hit coastal economies,” she said.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that about one-third of carbon pollution is absorbed by the ocean. However, local sources of nitrogen pollution make matters worse, said one of the commission’s members, Joe Payne of Friends of Casco Bay.
Runoff from city streets and fertilized lawns, sewage and stormwater overflow send nitrogen into the ocean, where algae blooms release even more carbon dioxide into the water and mud, he said.
Payne said waters near shore that are habitat for shellfish have the highest levels of acidity. He has identified 50 mudflats in Casco Bay that have elevated acidity levels. Some of them have acidity levels so high they can dissolve baby clams, he said.
Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald