Ocean acidification

February 22, 2021

Join us for the second CoP webinar of the year, and get to know Canada’s Ocean Acidification Community of Practice—Wednesday, March 10 at 1pm AST/12pm EST / 9am PST.

The MEOPAR OA Community of Practice (CoP) was formed in 2018, with the overarching goal of sharing knowledge and improving linkages between OA knowledge creators and end-users across Canada. The OA CoP is led by two co-leads, Dr. Helen Gurney-Smith (DFO) and Dr. Brent Else (University of Calgary) and coordinator, Dr. Kristina Barclay (University of Calgary, MEOPAR), with guidance from an interdisciplinary Steering Committee from across the country. OA CoP objectives include the development of knowledge transfer and community engagement via accessible content, resources, and databases, and best-practices for data collection and sharing involving research groups, stakeholders, and community-based research.

In this webinar, the OA CoP will present some of its key activities to date, its new online resources and blog series, as well as updates on the development of future projects. Current and future activities are focused on increasing online content and resources to increase OA CoP awareness and engagement, the development of a low-cost OA sensor package to aid aquaculture operations and larger monitoring efforts, conducting regional vulnerability assessments, and participation in partner OA organizations, including the GOA-ON North American Hub, the OA Information Exchange, DFO-NOAA OA Working Groups, the OA Alliance, and MEOPAR.

Date, time & venue

2021-01-22;7:30pm to 8:30pm;Online Webinar by Zoom

Programme Highlights

In this webinar, we are grateful to invite Miss Tiffany Fung, Research Assistant from The University of Hong Kong, to be our speaker for “HKIE MMNC X HKU Marine Conservation 3rd Session – Ocean Acidification”. Through the series of webinar, HKIE MMNC division would like to widen our member’s knowledge of Marine Conservation so as to be aware of importance of environmental protection.

The Mid-Atlantic Coastal Acidification Network (MACAN) will host a webinar entitled Examining the Biological Responses of Ocean Acidification in Early Life-Stages of Fishes of Inshore Waters of the Mid-Atlantic, USA on Jan 26, 2021 at 11:00 AM EST. 

To register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4753238655917450512    

Speaker Information: Chris Chambers is a Research Fishery Biologist at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Howard Marine Sciences Laboratory at Sandy Hook, New Jersey. He and his Life History and Recruitment team study how the environment, including climate change and ocean acidification, affect the likelihood of survival and general health of the earliest and most sensitive life-stages of a variety of marine finfish species.  His research uses first principles of ecology, life history, and inference to anticipate how fishes might respond to future environments.

The 3rd annual International Ocean Acidification Day of Action is being hosted by OA Alliance member, The Ocean Foundation on January 8th,  representing 8.1 the current pH level of our ocean.

To celebrate, the OA Alliance has issued the following article calling for increased international collaboration and leadership that will help build resilience to the social, economic and cultural vulnerabilities caused by climate and ocean change.

Please visit the “OA Day of Action” website to learn more.

January 19 @ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm

NOAA Ocean Acidification Program

Presented by: Melissa Melendez, University of Hawai’i Manoa and Lisa-Marie Carrubba, NOAA/NMFS Office of Protected Resources

Register: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7216082030659424272

Puerto Rico is home to vibrant coral reef ecosystems that support a diversity of marine life and livelihoods. Join us as we share our journey in creating Spanish-language videos (with English subtitles) about ocean acidification, its causes, consequences, research and possible solutions for the Puerto Rican public and island visitors. The video invites viewers to get involved in community actions that reduce other stressors to marine organisms and increase their resilience to the effects of ocean acidification. A full length and short video (highlighting key messages) were created in collaboration with a number of NOAA and non-NOAA partners, including the University of Puerto Rico and Paradise SCUBA and Snorkeling Center, and produced by a local videographer, Efra Visuals. You’re welcome to view the full video on the producer’s YouTube channel prior to the live webinar.

We hope to ‘see’ you there!

Feb 14, 2021, 3 – 4pm

The Port Townsend Marine Science Center (PTMSC) is hosting a lecture series about the future of our oceans. All lectures take place online via ZOOM. You can register for the free events on the PTMSC website. https://ptmsc.org/programs/learn/lecture-series

Taking place 2-3 December 2020, the Ocean and Climate Change Dialogue as mandated by COP25, will invite Parties and non-Party stakeholders to consider approaches to strengthening ocean related adaptation and mitigation action across the UNFCCC.

The Dialogue will provide a space to discuss actions, drawing upon the knowledge and scientific findings from IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate and the submissions from Parties and non-Party stakeholders.

Ocean acidification is a direct result of human-caused carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and is altering the chemical balance of seawater that marine life depends upon for survival.   Only by explicitly including impacts of increasing acidification—and ocean change more broadly—within mitigation targets and adaptation strategies can the UNFCCC and Parties accurately assess the full suite of change and vulnerability directly caused by increasing anthropogenic CO_2.

The OA Alliance has highlighted key takeaways from our official submission made to the Ocean and Climate Change Dialogue, which you can access here: “Ocean Acidification within UNFCCC Ocean Climate Dialogue (FINAL).