Washington State's Blue Ribbon Panel on ocean acidification met on April 25th and has had powerpoint slides and verbal presentations posted to YouTube. (click here)
As the meeting unfolded it became clear these questions were important to answer (not necessarily in this order):
1. How did molluscs survive during the last rapid rate of change in pH levels 300 million years ago and how have they survived in estuaries all these years when they encounter freshwater systems with an average pH of 7? As noted in the first Blue Ribbon Panel meeting, not all shellfish react adversely to ocean acidification. Currently, the non-native Pacific oyster from Japan is the primary species bred in the hatcheries which are not adapting to lowering pH levels. Added to this is genetic manipulation creating triploid/tetraploid Pacific oysters which are even more specialized to their environment, less able to adapt to changes. Native Olympia oysters and even geoduck appear to be far less susceptible to the changes in pH levels, most likely through natural selection from past ocean upwellings in Puget Sound.
2. What are the drivers (sources) of ocean acidification and of those what can effectively be addressed? Unless this question is answered based on accurate information the returns from regulations created and/or enforced may have unintended environmental and economic consequences. As noted in the presentation, current monitoring is not accurate enough to show what level of impact the upwelling of deep sea water is having on pH levels in Puget Sound and Willapa Bay. Few dispute there is a problem, but what additional impact power generating plants in Washington using coal or what additional impact nitrogen from waste water treatment plants plays is simply unknown. Acting on the unknown is like driving your car at night with the headlights off on a country road.
3. What industry other than the shellfish industry is going to be impacted by lowering pH levels? The Blue Ribbon Panel was created because the shellfish industry found itself with a species unable to survive the hatchery environment and which was not naturally setting in Willapa Bay. Whether any other industries are impacted by ocean acidification is important to know, whether it be directly through ocean acidification or indirectly through regulations implemented for the benefit of the shellfish industry.
Ocean acidification is a real problem. The Blue Ribbon Panel's recommendations on source reduction, remediation and adaptation needs to be made with accurate monitoring and a clear understanding of the problem, perhaps noting this quote from Sir Maurice Yonge (1899-1986), a distinguished marine zoologist of his day on the future of oyster culture: “...the more man interferes with nature the greater become the problems he creates." (Oysters, 1960 p. 189).
Driving a car in the dark without the lights on creates problems in decision making. Driving it faster to meet an artificial deadline created by Governor Gregoire's leaving office only increases the risk of a poor decision leading in turn to a bigger problem. The Blue Ribbon Panel should not be rushed into making recommendations without accurate information, something which may take more than three months to gather.
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