The PI gets it. It’s time to take radical action, by both the US and Canada, to slow this. Our fisheries are at stake.
Buildup of carbon dioxide is changing the chemistry of the world’s oceans, threatening coastal economies and ecosystems — nowhere more than on the Pacific Coast, according to an expert study released Monday. “Although ocean acidification is a global phenomenon, emerging research indicates that, among coastal areas around the world, the West Coast of North America will face some of the earliest, most severe changes in ocean carbon chemistry.” Those were the findings published in a report produced by a 20-member team of experts, several from the University of Washington, called the West Coast Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Science Panel. It is blunt about human causes, and the urgency of action. Joel Connelly reports. (SeattlePI.Com)
Filed under: ocean acidification, Puget Sound | Tagged: ocean acidification, Puget Sound |
All the more reason for the shellfish industry to avoid damage to vital eelgrass beds. A recent Australian study explored the value of seagrasses in sequestering carbon and seagrasses take a very long trime to recover from disturbances.
Yes. While the shellfish industry is an ally to environmental protection in many areas, they continue to cause damage to eelgrass beds, and the habitat it supports. It’s worth noting that the State allows this behavior, (and Tribes have the right to do this, for both subsistence and commercial use) and it will require changes to law, which the shellfish industry has shown a very good job of subverting in the past. And don’t get me started on the use of shellfish industry representatives in the Marine Resource Committees and their never ending attacks on representatives like myself supporting environmental protections.