December 19, 2019 — In a new experiment, scientists working at the Mass Maritime Academy in Bourne are finding that ocean acidification may have a profound effect on juvenile sea scallops.
Scientists at the Academy, in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), are exposing sea scallops to three different levels of acidity, to see how they adapt to changing ocean chemistry.
Over the last 25 years, oceans have become increasingly acidic and that trend is expected to continue, as the water absorbs greenhouse gases produced by human activity.
“Research has shown that other bivalves [like oysters, clams, and quahogs] are affected by ocean acidification,” said Shannon Meseck, a research scientist at the NOAA Fisheries Millford Laboratory. “But to date, there’s no published research on the sea scallop, which is surprising because it is the second most important fishery in the Northeast. Second, to lobster.”
When Meseck started working toward her PhD more than two decades ago, she said, she learned the pH of the ocean—which measures its acidity—was 8.15. Today, the pH has dropped to 8.1, and in the next 100 years it could be as low as 7.8.