January 6, 2020 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is warning that carbon dioxide emissions and ocean acidification are occurring at unprecedented rates and could cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars as fisheries from Alaska to Florida are threatened.
In a new report that draws on hundreds of studies detailing how NOAA will monitor the impact of ocean acidification on the U.S. over the next 10 years, the agency warns that it “will likely affect commercial, subsistence and recreational fishing, tourism and coral ecosystems.”
Ocean acidification has a significant impact on sea life crucial to thriving seafood industries, including Dungeness crab, Alaska king crab, New England Atlantic sea scallop and a myriad of other species including mussels, clams and oysters. It makes it difficult for organisms to build shells and skeletons.
The report says profitable commercial fisheries in California, Oregon and Washington are at risk, but U.S. regions particularly endangered are Alaska, Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.