There’s a lot riding on how marine creatures will adapt to acidifying oceans. The animals that dissolve in more corrosive seawater range from oysters, a bedrock species in the Northwest’s lucrative commercial shellfish industry, to krill and pteropods, tiny sea snails propelled by wing-like feet that make up more than half of the diet of some young Alaska pink salmon.
And here are two pertinent pieces of news for anyone living in the Northwest.
- Surprisingly corrosive waters have already been found off our shores.
- It surfaced decades before scientists expected to see it.
Read the rest of the story at:
http://daily.sightline.org/daily_score/archive/2011/05/24/the-acid-test
Recent samples done by People For Puget Sound on their sailing around the Sound have found levels below 8. The danger is real, and mounting.