The ocean water that should feed shellfish has become so acidic it is killing them. Near Qualicum Beach, 10 million scallops have died, the latest casualties of our increasingly acidic seawater.
Nanaimo鈥檚 Island Scallops, which grows the shellfish over about 500 hectares, has closed its processing plant and laid off 10 people.
The pH in area waters is usually about 8.2, but it has dipped as low as 7.2, which is much more acidic, according to a University of sa国际传媒 researcher. Baby scallops, which use calcium carbonate to form shells, have a harder time making shells when the water is acidic.
Rob Saunders, CEO of Island Scallops, says the cages that usually come out of the water with 300 shellfish are coming up with fewer than five.
While the latest devastation of the scallops is staggering, the problem has been growing for years.
In 2005, oyster larvae began dying in Washington and Oregon. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration put it down to acidification, which is caused by higher levels of carbon dioxide in the water.
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere recently reached 400 parts per million, compared to 280 before the world began to industrialize. Saunders said that CO2 in the water, which had been stable for a long time, has been climbing, and in 2011 was almost double normal levels.
The shellfish growers are asking the federal government for help in finding a solution, and the government should step up.
This is not a greenhouse-gas fairy story. The dead shellfish, shuttered plant, laid-off workers and vanished revenue are real. We need to pay attention.
