I once read an estimate that seafood will no longer be available for human consumption by the middle of the century. This catastrophe would be the result of a multitude of environmental problems. Yet, because of our uncanny ability to pollute and consume at unrestrained levels, even 2050-ish appears to be a conservative guesstimate.

Photo by ecoforsberg on Flickr through Creative Commons

By now, the issues of global warming, climate change, and overfishing have attracted a fair deal of attention from the general public. However, for those hesitant to accept the science of climate change, one thing that may be easier to digest is the problem of ocean acidification.
It doesn’t take rocket science or more than elementary biology to understand that all life needs balance to survive. Drastically tip the ecological scale too much and too fast in any direction, and you’re asking for trouble. This is why rising levels of acidification—largely due to the ocean’s being forced to absorb more carbon emissions—have many fishermen and scientists fretting:

• “Jeremy Brown, a fisherman from the Pacific Northwest, is pulling things from the ocean he says are so disturbing that he came to Washington [D.C.] to warn U.S. lawmakers about it. ‘This is not overfishing, this is something far larger,’ said Brown, one of 10 people who met with lawmakers and legislative aides this week…”

• “The group said the ocean is becoming more acidic because of carbon-dioxide emissions that are damaging coral reefs, decimating populations of tiny animals at the base of the food chain and eating away at the shells of clams, mussels, and oysters.”

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephaniewatson/ on Flickr through Creative Commons

• “World trade in seafood products is valued at $100 billion and feeds 3 billion people, according to the fisheries partnership. That production is threatened by rising acidity, caused by the ocean absorbing more carbon from the atmosphere, and by effects of agricultural runoff, said Mark Green, a professor of oceanography at St. Joseph’s College of Maine in Portland, who accompanied the fishermen on the trip.”

Photo from Rappensuncle on Flickr through Creative Commons

• “The U.K.-based Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership reported in April that acidification has increased 30 percent since the start of the industrial revolution, a rate faster than at any time in the last 65 million years. More acidic water eats away at clam, oyster and mussel shells, said mark Wiegardt, who raises shellfish larvae in Tillamook, Oregon, and sells them to commercial harvesters.”

• “’The shells stop growing and the acidic water literally dissolves the calcium of the shells,’ Wiegardt said. Wiegardt said he has seen an 80 percent cut in production in 2008 and a 40 to 50 percent drop this year.”

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Want to learn more? Watch “Acid Test: The Global Challenge of Ocean Acidification” narrated by “Avatar’s” Sigourney Weaver.