In the coming decades, ocean acidification is expected to become significant also in the Baltic Sea. For an already stressed ecosystem, it represents an additional pressure, and the cumulative effect of this and other environmental impacts can stress species and reduce biodiversity. Protecting the unique environment and future food production requires both significant reductions in carbon dioxide emissions and measures against eutrophication, overfishing and emissions of hazardous substances.
Recommendations
Increase efforts to meet the carbon emission targets agreed at global and EU level.
Accelerate action to reduce nutrient inputs from land and thus eutrophication, overfishing and emissions of hazardous substances.
Promote a national and international ban on the discharge of scrubber washwater into the sea, which can cause severe acidification locally, and encourage the development of alternative fuels.
Extend the acidification monitoring programmes in both space and time on a resolution that is relevant for species and ecosystems, and combine with biological observations.
Promote biological research on Baltic species and ecosystems to evaluate their sensitivity to ocean acidification in combination with other local drivers.
In Australia, our love of the ocean is truly profound – most of us live near the coast, we surf it, camp by it, we marvel at its incredible beauty from its many pristine sandy shores and we are proud of the unique and wondrous sea life that inhabits it.
Our oceans are in trouble. As our climate changes, driven by the unchecked burning of fossil fuels, our seas are transforming before our eyes. Marine heatwaves are surging, coral reefs are on the brink, ice sheets are melting at an alarming rate, currents are slowing and seas are rising. Put simply: the climate crisis is an ocean crisis.
The ocean is the beating heart of planet Earth, and the lifeblood for all humanity. It produces over half the oxygen we breathe. Its currents regulate our climate and weather. The marine life within it provides sustenance for billions. Our cultures, economies and very identity are tied to the sea.
We have pushed this wondrous, life-giving system to the brink by burning coal, oil and gas. More than 90 percent of the heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions has been absorbed by the ocean. Parts of the ocean could reach a near-permanent heatwave state within decades.
Our iconic Great Barrier Reef may soon face annual mass coral bleaching. Entire island nations like Tuvalu and Kiribati could become uninhabitable this century as seas rise.
The ocean is a vital carbon sink, absorbing more than 30 percent of the carbon dioxide that humans emit by burning fossil fuels and clearing land. This has changed the chemical make-up of the entire ocean, making it more acidic.
By absorbing excess heat, and carbon, the ocean has shielded us from the worst of climate change so far. But we are now seeing the consequences of its sacrifice. The climate crisis is no longer a far-off threat. The ocean is screaming a warning that cannot be ignored.
The role of action plans in tackling a mounting ocean crisis
INTRODUCTION
The world is waking up to the threat that ocean acidification (OA)—a rise in the acidity of seawater caused by excess carbon dioxide entering it from the atmosphere—poses to marine ecosystems and to the coastal economies that depend on them. Since OA’s damaging effects on shellfish were first documented 15 years ago, research organisations have mobilised to collect, on an ongoing basis, huge volumes of OA-related data from the world’s oceans. Based on those data, as well as data gathered in coastal areas, scientists have published a wealth of studies examining the causes and effects of OA.
Environmental advocacy groups championing ocean health, charitable foundations and intergovernmental organisations have built on this work to raise global awareness of OA, fund wider research into it and prod governments around the world to take concrete actions to combat it.
Pacific pioneers: Setting the global standard for OA
National action plans are highly desirable, but it is state governments on the US Pacific coast that have set the standard of OA action for the rest of the world to follow.
Governments, however, have been slow to rise to this challenge. Although many have voiced concerns about OA and expressed an intention to fight it through international mechanisms, at the time of writing less than a dozen have published dedicated action plans. These document specific measures governments will take—or are taking—to advance understanding and the domestic response to OA.
The experts we interviewed for this report are strong advocates for OA action plans. Measures to address OA have a vital place in wider climate change and other marine management initiatives, but a dedicated OA plan stands a better chance of cementing the ambition and commitment of a country, region or locality to actively address localised manifestations of OA and turn back the tide. And while some non-government organisations (NGOs) and science institutions have issued OA action plans of their own, none will carry as much weight as those led by governments.
National action plans are highly desirable, but it is state governments on the US Pacific coast that have set the standard of OA action for the rest of the world to follow. It is here that scientists first registered the deadly impacts of OA on marine life and the threat to coastal economies and jobs. That emergency and follow-on research findings led governments in the region to commit unequivocally to combat OA with the help of dedicated, detailed and well-resourced action plans.
In examining governments’ and other entities’ progress on mobilising against OA, this report finds that existing North American action plans offer useful examples and insights for other jurisdictions. Far from all governments will be able to base their plans on the same depth of research or call on the same resources to draft them. But by including in their plans elements such as a vision of success, timelines, assignment of ownership, and a mandate for periodic review and updating, governments can call upon more resources and put their OA action plans on a firm footing.
WHY ACTION IS VITAL
Ocean acidification is a growing threat to many forms of marine life and to the communities that rely on them for food, jobs and economic wellbeing. OA is a direct result of the growing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated by human activity. Up to 30% of carbon released into the atmosphere each year is absorbed by the ocean, which helps to mitigate global warming. But the ocean’s ability to sequester carbon cannot keep pace with rising emission volumes.1 The result is a decline in the pH level of seawater and a rise in its acidity.
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Report citation: Turner J., Braby C., Findlay H., Widdicombe S., Kobayashi M. & Fujii M., 2023. Ocean acidification: time for action. The role of action plans in tackling a mounting ocean crisis. Back to Blue, Economist Impact, The Nippon Foundation. Report.
The new edition of the “OA-ICC Highlights” summarizes the project’s main activities and achievements over the period May – September 2023. This time our newsletter features the participation of the OA-ICC research staff in the 2023 ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting, the annual in-person meeting of the Executive Council of the Global ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOA-ON), a technical meeting on adaptation pathways for atoll islands and a training course on “blue carbon” for early-career scientists. Furthermore, a dedicated piece in this issue discusses Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) in the context of potential ways to accelerate the ocean’s natural carbon sink.
Previous editions of the “OA-ICC Highlights”can be viewed here.
The five-year MEASO process was designed following a blueprint similar to that of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) working group. MEASO serves as a Southern Ocean equivalent of an IPCC report, offering a simplified and concise summary of scientific findings to educate global policymakers. The 2023 report’s release was timed to align with the international CCAMLR meeting in Hobart. […]
MEASO, the Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean, is a pioneering and collaborative initiative launched in 2018. It involves more than 200 scientists from 19 countries, with diverse representation, striving to comprehensively evaluate the status and changes in Southern Ocean ecosystems and the underlying factors driving these transformations. 24 research articles were published in a special research topic in the journal ‘Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution’. MEASO is a key component of the Integrating Climate and Ecosystem Dynamics in the Southern Ocean (ICED) program, which falls under the umbrella of Integrated Marine Biosphere Research (IMBeR), jointly operated by the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) and Future Earth. Furthermore, it enjoys the support of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS). The MEASO initiative serves as a valuable resource for policymakers, scientists, and the general public interested in the Southern Ocean’s ecological well-being and its ever-changing dynamics.
In order to quantify the amount of carbonate, precipitated as calcium-carbonate in the shells of blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) in a temperate climate, an existing Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) model for the blue mussel was adapted by separating shell growth from soft tissue growth. Hereby, two parameters were added to the original DEB-model, a calcification cost [J/mgCaCO3] and an energy allocation fraction [-], which resulted in the energy allocated for structural growth being divided between shell and meat growth. As values for these new parameters were lacking, they were calibrated by fitting the model to field data. Calibration results showed that an Energy allocation fraction of 0.5 and a calcification cost of 0.9 J/mgCaCO3, resulted in the best fit when fitted on 2017 and 2018 field data separately. These values however, show the best fit for data obtained within the first couple of years of the shellfish life, and do not take later years into account. Also it could be discussed that some parameters vary throughout the lifespan of the species. The results were compared to a regular DEB model, where the shell output was calculated through a simple allometric relationship. It is sometimes assumed that the carbon storage in shell material as calcium carbonate could be regarded as a form of carbon sequestration, with a positive impact on the atmospheric CO2 concentrations. However, studies on the physical-chemical processes related to shell formation have shown that from an oceanographic perspective, shell formation should be regarded as a source of atmospheric CO2 rather than a sink. The removal of carbonates, through the biocalcification process, reduces the buffer capacity (alkalinity) of the water to store CO2. As a result CO2 is released from the water to the atmosphere when shell material is formed. The actual amount of CO2 that escapes from the water to the atmosphere as a result of biocalcification depends strongly on local water characteristics. In this study, the effect of calcification by mussels on the CO2 flux to the atmosphere is studied using an adapted DEB model where energy costs of calcification are modelled explicitly. The model was subsequently run under two future climate scenarios, (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.3) with elevated temperature and decreased pH, and the total released CO2 as a result of shell formation was calculated with the SeaCarb model. This showed growth of mussels, under future climate conditions to be slower, and with that the cumulative shell mass and carbonate precipitated to CaCO3 to decrease. Yet the amount of CO2 released, due to biocalcification, increased. This is due to the fact that the amount of CO2 released/gr of CaCO3 precipitated will be higher, as a result of the decreased buffering capacity of seawater under future climatic environmental conditions.
In summary the conclusions of the project were:
Biocalcification (shell formation) of marine organisms, such as bivalves, cannot be regarded as a process resulting in negative CO2 emission to the atmosphere;
The actual amount of CO2 that, due to biocalcification, is released from the water to the atmosphere depends on the physicochemical characteristics of the water, which are influenced by (future) climate conditions;
Our first model calculations suggest that at future climate conditions mussel’s grow rate will be somewhat reduced. While the amount of CO2 that due to biocalcification, escapes to the atmosphere during its life-time will slightly increase. Making the ratio of g CO2 release/g CaCO3 precipitated slightly higher;
Our model calculations should be considered an exercise rather than a definite prediction of how mussels will respond to future climate scenarios. Additional information/experimentation is strongly needed to validate the model settings, and to test the validity of the above mentioned outcome of the model.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to the atmosphere have increased inexorably since the industrial revolution, due to fossil fuel combustion, cement production and land-use change. This has resulted in an average global atmospheric partial pressure of CO2 of ~ 415.7 +/- 0.2 ppm in 2021, which is 149% of preindustrial levels (WMO 2022). Today’s atmospheric CO2 levels would likely be much higher, had the oceans not absorbed about one quarter to one third of the total anthropogenic CO2 emissions (IPCC, 2019; Bindoff et al., 2019). Increasing carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere results in changes to ocean chemistry, which impact marine life. The uptake of CO2 in the oceans has caused the ocean to become more acidic due to the increase of protons (H+ ions) as a result of reactions of CO2 with the surrounding seawater. This change is measured using the (logarithmic) pH scale and the process is known as ocean acidification (OA).
Not only is the pH of seawater decreasing with ocean acidification, the carbonate ion concentration (CO3 2-) is decreasing at the same time, which particularly affects calcifying organisms. The two most common forms of calcium carbonate used by calcifying organisms to produce their shells and skeletons are aragonite and calcite. Calcifying organisms such as bivalves and corals will find it particularly difficult to build their protective hard parts when CO3 2- is diminishing. In addition, the ocean depths below which aragonite and calcite tend to dissolve is getting shallower. The aragonite saturation horizon (ASH) has already shoaled by 80–400 m in the North Atlantic since pre-industrial times (Feely et al., 2004; Tanhua et al., 2007) and is projected to rise further from 2600 m to as shallow as 200 m depth by the end of the century (Orr et al., 2005). Benthic deep-sea ecosystems such as cold-water coral reefs that currently live in supersaturated waters with respect to aragonite are projected to be exposed to aragonite undersaturation by the end of the century due to OA (about 70% of known habitats, Guinotte et al., 2006; Zheng and Cao, 2015).
The new edition of the “OA-ICC Highlights” summarizes the project’s main activities and achievements over the period December 2022 – April 2023. This time our newsletter features a Technical Meeting on Meta-Analyses Using the Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre (OA-ICC) Bibliographic Database and Other Data Resources, a Consultancy Meeting of the SCOR-COBS Working Group and a Technical Meeting on Ocean Acidification for Scientists from the Mediterranean Region (GOA-ON OA Med-Hub). A novelty of this edition is the “Under the lens” section that aims to showcase the use of nuclear and isotopic techniques in ocean acidification research conducted at the IAEA Marine Environment Laboratories in Monaco.
Previous editions of the “OA-ICC Highlights”can be viewed here.
Managing U.S. federal fisheries often requires considering complex interactions among fisheries, protected species, habitats, and other ecosystem components, including humans and climate. In addition, management that focuses on individual species can experience undesirable and unexpected changes due to unaccounted for impacts of climate or other ecosystem factors. Regional fishery management councils (Councils) need ways to efficiently process these interactions and the potential impacts they may have on meeting Council management objectives. One tool that can help with this is the ecosystem-level risk assessment (ERA), also called ecological risk assessments or vulnerability assessments. ERAs are management decision tools that can assist Councils in integrating large amounts of ecosystem information in a standardized, yet flexible and transparent way to help identify issues to prioritize in science or management. The purpose of this document is to share applied results from five regional case studies of ERA. The case studies cover different geographies illustrate how Councils can systematically approach ERA to help address current challenges and advance ecosystem-based fisheries management. To demonstrate the versatility of this tool, we organized the case studies by three different applications in the adaptive fishery management process: screening, prioritization, and evaluation. We emphasized broader ERAs that analyzed a number of different ecosystem drivers in one assessment. To improve the process of incorporating ecosystem information into fishery management decisions, we summarize key takeaways from the case studies. Finally, we provide additional recommendations for optimizing ERA use at the end of this report.
From January 4-6, 2023 the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program (OAP) convened the OAP Community Meeting at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, CA. This tri-annual meeting, recently renamed as the OAP Community Meeting, was restructured from previous years in order to create a more inclusive environment; the meeting was open to all those interested in ocean acidification (OA) research. The goals of the meeting were: 1) to shape the future strategic direction of OAP; 2) to inform community members of recent OAP-supported efforts, 3) to foster collaborations within the OA research community; 4) to identify critical research gaps and efforts to address them; and 5) to highlight and discuss diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and justice in the OA research community. These goals were represented throughout the agenda, which included topical topical sessions, panel discussions, and working lunches (the participant agenda can be accessed here; see Appendix I).
Every year the ocean absorbs at least a quarter of the carbon dioxide (CO2) released to the atmosphere from burning of fossil fuels, cement production and land use change. This is driving ocean acidification. This assessment represents the first OSPAR assessment of Ocean Acidification in the North-East Atlantic and addresses trends and variability, projections of future acidification, impacts on ecosystems and ecosystem services and mitigation and adaption.
Key findings
Ocean acidification has been observed in all OSPAR Regions during the past decades. It is projected to keep occurring and even accelerate under the higher carbon dioxide (CO2) emission scenarios.
The rate at which ocean acidification occurs varies geographically and throughout the water column. This variability is particularly evident in coastal environments due to the complex interactions of local physical, chemical and biological processes.
Ocean acidification is a major threat to marine species and ecosystems, with direct consequences to ecosystem services. Studies on biological impacts have indicated that there will be clear changes in organisms’ structure, distribution, and ability to function as a result of ocean acidification effects.
Threatened and / or declining species and habitats, for example cold water coral reefs Lophelia pertusa, are particularly vulnerable to changing environmental conditions, including ocean acidification, and evidence suggests that some commercially important species may also be negatively impacted by these effects.
Ocean acidification effects interact with other pressures from environmental change and ecological interactions. The ability of species to adapt to ocean acidification will depend on the rate of environmental change, evolutionary processes and for most species, the present standing genetic variation.
Our understanding of trends, variability, drivers, and ecological impact of ocean acidification needs to improve. This requires better harmonised and tailored monitoring and data integration, further integration of observations and model products, and an ongoing multi-strand research effort to better predict impacts.
Climate change mitigation and adaptation responses are in many cases also effective against ocean acidification, but some proposed responses may also exacerbate ocean acidification and its impacts.
We are delighted to announce that the December issue of the WIOMSA Newsbrief has been published. This issue of the Newsbrief features WIOMSA at COP 27 in Egypt where we unveiled the Report on Ocean Acidification monitoring in the Western Indian Ocean. Other key features include a spotlight on our newly elected Board members and the resolutions passed at WIOMSA’s 7th General Assembly in October. The Newsbrief highlights the cutting edge science outputs from our research projects, regional news, new publications and recently published papers . Also featured are WIOMSA’s affiliate networks.
Co-authored by Jim Roberts, Anemone Consultants, and Hannah Hendriks, DOC’s Marine Technical Advisor, the research paper examines climate change in relation to marine mammals’ habitat, distribution, food sources and predators.
It looked at how specific climate change hazards, such as increasing sea temperatures, rising sea levels, changes in ocean circulation and effects on prey species, would impact marine mammals around New Zealand.
The report identifies changes in food supply as the biggest threat to marine mammals in New Zealand waters.
“This is likely to impact populations including kekeno/New Zealand fur seal in the Westland region and blue whales foraging at the South Taranaki Bight,” says Hannah Hendriks.
“Māui dolphins also appear vulnerable, based on their location at the warm end of the species’ range and an apparent low availability of prey species.”
Projected changes to the New Zealand environment include sea surface temperatures rising more than 3oC, changes in atmospheric climate and oceanographic circulation, rising sea levels, and widespread ocean acidification.
“As a result, it is possible species normally living in warmer subtropical waters like the dense-beaked whale, dwarf sperm whale, pan-tropical spotted dolphin, short-finned pilot whale and pygmy killer whale, will become more common around New Zealand, and potentially outcompeting some of the marine mammals we currently see,” says Hannah.
“Similarly, species that live in cooler subantarctic waters could become sparser around New Zealand as they move south.”
This review shows changes to the environment won’t be felt equally in all parts of New Zealand.
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Department of Conservation: The Papa Atawbai, 16 September 2022. Press release.
This report summarises data and analysis methods for ocean acidification data from the Munida Time Series over the period 1998-2020 and the New Zealand Ocean Acidification Observing Network over the period 2015-21. Analysis of the trends and variability is also provided along with discussion on the implications of this for the New Zealand marine environment.
The new edition of the “OA-ICC Highlights”, our newsletter, summarizes the project’s main activities and achievements over the period March – July 2022. This newsletter features a training for early career scientists, OA-ICC activities at the UN Ocean Conference, the upcoming 5th Annual Symposium on the Ocean in a High CO2 World, and two new OA-ICC publications, including a policy brief and protocol on measuring pHT. Previous editions can be viewed here.
Noting the early response of Arctic environments to global environmental change, this Fact Sheet outlines high rates of ocean acidification experienced in Arctic waters and resulting threats posed to Arctic communities and ecosystems.
The Arctic remains at the forefront of ocean acidification research and governance. In addition to nation actions, the Arctic Council and its working groups engage in ongoing scientific research and governance initiatives addressing ocean acidification throughout the region. The Arctic Council additionally promotes the integration of Indigenous knowledge in research and governance, which may further advance understandings of ocean acidification and other marine stressors.
While scientific and governance attention towards ocean acidification has increased in the Arctic, the issue of ocean acidification remains largely peripheral to global discussions of environmental change. It has therefore been argued that more explicit and specific efforts are need to effectively address ocean acidification, both globally and within the disproportionately vulnerable Arctic environment.
This working paper compiles major impacts of climate change on the ocean, focusing on ocean warming, rising sea levels and ocean acidification. It compiles the reports and projections about ocean and climate in the Asia-Pacific region, emphasizing on extreme weather events, heatwave, coral bleaching, fish migration, degradation of the marine ecosystems, and biodiversity. It also provides sea-level calculations based on satellite data and statistical tools with Asia and Pacific regional examples.
This pilot edition of the State of the Ocean Report (StOR) was proposed and developed to demonstrate the feasibility of keeping the world up to date on the current state of the ocean. Building on examples from IOC-led or joint initiatives, the report is structured around the initial Challenges of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, 2021–2030.
The StOR reveals a lack of reliable benchmarks in many aspects of ocean knowledge. Most sections in the report tend to be descriptive and qualitative, consistent with the recent seminal Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Assessment (IPBES, 2019) that stated: ‘human actions threaten more species with global extinction now than ever before’. The IPBES further elaborates: ‘marine ecosystems, from coastal to deep sea, now show the influence of human actions, with coastal marine ecosystems showing both large historical losses of extent and condition as well as rapid ongoing declines (established but incomplete)’. Indeed, a key conclusion from the pilot StOR is that ocean knowledge is generally able to identify (‘establish’) issues but falls short of these being comprehensive and, hence, actionable (‘incomplete’) – ‘one cannot manage what one cannot measure’.
There is, therefore, an urgent need for a quantitative description of the state of the ocean, with established benchmarks and the capacity to report changes. The overall aim remains – to produce (probably annually) a brief, accessible, one-stop overview of the current state of the ocean, and to mobilize global society to act towards ‘the ocean we need for the future we want’ as a contribution to sustainable development, and in particular to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14. To achieve this, the StOR must be more encompassing. So, for subsequent editions, the IOC will invite contributions from UN agencies and professional organizations, turning the StOR into a pan-UN publication.
Pollution, ecosystem decline, climate impacts and overfishing threaten the health of the world’s ocean. The 2022 Ocean Conference provides an opportunity to strengthen synergies among stakeholders to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, ‘Life Below Water’. The targets set under SDG 14 have largely not been achieved on an international level. Marine pollution remains a major issue, while increasing deoxygenation and acidification is putting marine species and coastal communities alike in danger. Existing and emerging economic activities (such as shipping and seabed mining) are competing for the use of marine space and are threatening ecosystems and biodiversity. Fish stocks continue to be overexploited. The economies of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and many Least Developing States (LDS) depend on the health the ocean.
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