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Our Hyper Acidic Oceans
We may have to say goodbye soon to our favorite seafood treats such as oysters and other shellfish. It won’t be long before these marine products will be wiped out of the waters of the globe. But before they are forever gone, marine products will become so scarce that their prices will become more prohibitive in posh restaurants that only the rich could afford to dine on them. Fish and other seafood have become luxury food in many parts of the world already. The adage “Fish, is a poor man’s food” is anything but true.
Just a few decades ago, shellfish used to be abundant in seashores almost everywhere in the Philippines. Today one hardly sees any shellfish (or even just shells) on the beaches. I used to hear stories about people gathering shell fish (panginhason) in the shores of Calaparan where one could gather clams (imbao) plenty enough for a family’s decent meal. Today there’s hardly any trace of shell fish in the area.
Even oysters (talaba) which used to grow abundantly along the coastlines of Molo and Arevalo are now harder to find. Ask any “Talabahan” or seafood restaurant along Calumpang and they’ll tell you that they even go as far as Capiz to stock up on shell fish. Sporadic red tide caused by water pollution (among other things) has also made shellfish such as mussels a little unpalatable.
That’s because our polluted oceans have become so inhospitable to fragile ecosystems such as coral reefs and shell colonies. Human habitation, urban wastes and carbon emissions from automobiles and industries have found their way into bodies of water, making our oceans toxic.
A study by the United Nations Environment Program’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre raised serious concerns over the health of the world’s oceans. According to the study, a quarter of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the atmosphere are absorbed by seas and oceans. It is said that oceans have been absorbing greater amounts of CO2 from fossil fuels, deforestation and other human activities.
While this helps minimize the effects of global warming, CO2 in the ocean is upsetting the fragile balance between ecology and marine life.
Changes in the chemical balance in oceans make our sea waters more acidic, threatening marine life. Scientists predict that by the year 2050, oceans will be 150% more acidic than today. And the year 2050 is just about 40 years away—which is not enough time for sea organisms to evolve or adapt to higher acid levels in the ocean and major changes in the ecosystem.
Evolution takes millions of years. That’s the length of time organisms require to adapt to new environments. But the UNEP study says the rise in acid levels in oceans is 100 times faster than any change in acidity experienced in the marine environment over the last 20 million years. This is giving very little time for evolutionary adaptation of organisms, particularly shell fish, which is very sensitive to these ecological changes.
Experts and marine scientists worldwide describe this scenario as alarming especially that ocean acidification is almost irreversible. Reducing acid levels in sea water may be a painstaking wait. Convention on Biodiversity Executive Secretary Ahmed Djoghlaf said it make take tens of thousands of years to correct the damage to ocean systems by global emissions of CO2. Fragile marine life such as shellfish may be long gone by then.
Ocean acidity may also be the final nail on the coffin for cold water corals. The UNEP study says that by 2100, no less than 70% of cold water corals, a key refuge and feeding ground for commercial fish species will be exposed to corrosive waters. Without the reefs, many fish species will have no sanctuary to feed or reproduce.
The concern for ocean health stems from the fact that many communities worldwide rely on the sea for food and livelihood. The Philippines is just one of these countries where fishing is a main food source not just for its people. The country exports processed seafood harvested from the nation’s once prolific seas.
UN experts say if ocean pollution is not addressed decisively, ocean acidity will not just kill marine life as it will also pose grim prospects for the world’s food basket.
