A Sea Change: Imagine a World without Fish

Via Ocean Acidification:

A Sea Change World Premiere Mar. 14 at DC Environmental Film Fest

It's official: A Sea Change premiers Saturday, Mar. 14 at the DC Environmental Film Festival, at 3:30 pm. In a fabulous venue: the Baird Auditorium at the National Museum of Natural History, in downtown Washington at the intersection of 10th Street and Constitution Ave., NW.

It's a great time, because families can come. We get a huge screen. And admission is free! You'll get to meet director Barbara Ettinger, co-producer/star Sven Huseby and special guests Dr. Richard Spinrad, Assistant Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)  Dr. Richard Feely of NOAA and the University of Washington, and David Rockefeller, Jr., Co-Founder of Sailors for the Sea. Moderating is Brad Warren of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, whose knowledge of the issues and ability to speak clearly to a variety of audiences continue to awe us.

Just in case you're a first-time visitor: A Sea Change is the first documentary about ocean acidification, the underbelly of climate change.

We couldn't be happier. OK, we could: if everyone in the US stopped driving an SUV right now. But we're still pretty darn happy.

Please come, tell your DC-based friends and family. For more information, visit the festival website.

Would you like to see the trailer? Click here. Having trouble seeing it on our website? Visit the Niijii Films YouTube channel.
Look for us next at the 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival: we'll post details as soon as we get em.
Press inquires re DC screening: Adam J. Segal of The 2050 Group, +1 202-422-4673 or adam at the2050group.com.

Technorati Tags: ocean overexploitation,acidification,ocean,overfishing,climate change

Scientists call for immediate action to stop ocean acidification

 

Paris, 29 January - More than 150 leading marine scientists from 26 countries are calling for immediate action by policymakers to reduce CO2 emissions sharply so as to avoid widespread and severe damage to marine ecosystems from ocean acidification. They issued this warning in the Monaco Declaration, released on 30 January.

The scientists note that ocean acidification is already detectable, that it is accelerating. They caution that its negative socio-economic impacts can only be avoided by limiting future atmospheric CO2 levels.

...

“The chemistry is so fundamental and changes so rapid and severe that impacts on organisms appear unavoidable.” said James Orr of the Marine Environment Laboratories (MEL-IAEA) and chairman of the symposium. “The questions are now how bad will it be and how soon will it happen. The report from the symposium summarizes the state of the science and priorities for future research, while the Monaco Declaration implores political leaders to launch urgent actions to limit the source of the problem.”

Leading scientists from all over the world call for immediate action to stop ocean acidification
Fri, 30 Jan 2009 09:55:45 GMT

Technorati Tags: acidification

Senate passes Lautenberg measure on ocean acidification

Via Ocean Acidification:

Legislation authored by Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) to focus research on rising ocean acidity passed the Senate yesterday. Ocean acidification harms marine life and poses serious risks to the fishing industry.

“Ocean acidification is a serious threat to our environment and to our marine life,” said Sen. Lautenberg. “Changes in ocean chemistry, caused by greenhouse gases, will affect our food supply and the health of our oceans. But research on ocean acidification is still in its infancy. My legislation would provide the needed research to analyze and address the environmental and economic impacts of ocean acidification.”

Increased carbon dioxide emissions are causing oceans to become more acidic. Ocean acidity has increased 30 percent in the last 100 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA also projects that, by the end of this century, current levels of carbon dioxide emissions would result in the lowest levels of ocean pH in 20 million years.

Oceans require a balanced pH to maintain water quality favorable to marine life. If oceans become too acidic, the shells of scallops, clams, crabs, plankton, corals and other marine life begin to dissolve. In New Jersey, sea scallops and clams are some of the state’s most valuable fisheries, valued at $121 million, according to NOAA.

Sen. Lautenberg’s bill, the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act of 2007 (FOARAM), would require a committee of federal agencies led by NOAA to coordinate research and monitoring of acidification of our oceans, develop a national plan to assess the environmental and economic impacts, and recommend solutions. The measure would also establish an ocean acidification program in NOAA - the federal agency with primary responsibility for preserving the health of our oceans and marine life. ...

Michael Pagan, PolitickerNJ.com, 16 January 2009. Article.

Senate passes Lautenberg measure on ocean acidification
Mon, 19 Jan 2009 08:38:54 GMT

Technorati Tags: ocean,acidification,NOAA

First-ever estimate of global fish biomass and impact on climate change

Via Ocean Acidification:

Are there really plenty of fish in the sea? University of British Columbia fisheries researcher Villy Christensen gives the first-ever estimate of total fish biomass in our oceans: Two billion tonnes.

And fish play a previously unrecognized but significant role in mitigating climate change by maintaining the delicate pH balance of the oceans, according to a study published in tomorrow’s edition of the journal Science, co-authored by Christensen and a team of international scientists.

“By drinking salt water, fish ingest a lot of calcium, which needs to be removed – or they will get renal stones,” says Christensen, an associate professor in the UBC Fisheries Centre.
The team discovered that fish do this by binding the calcium to bicarbonate, and then excreting it as pellets of calcium carbonate, a chalk-like substance also known as “gut rocks,” in a process completely separate from food digestion. For an animation of this process, visit www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/download.

As the calcium carbonate from these pellets dissolves, it turns the seawater more alkaline, which has relevance for ocean acidification, and is impacted by the ocean’s exchange of carbon dioxide (CO2) with the atmosphere.

...

“This study really is the first glimpse of the huge impact fish have on our carbon cycle – and why we need them in the ocean,” says Christensen. “We must buck the current trend of clear-cutting of the oceans and foster these unrecognized allies against climate change.”

Brian Lin, EurekAlert, 15 January 2009. Article.

UBC researcher gives first-ever estimate of worldwide fish biomass and impact on climate change
Fri, 16 Jan 2009 08:15:27 GMT

Technorati Tags: acidification,global warming,overfishing

Ocean acidification on YouTube

This is a one-minute video that clearly describes the issue. The YouTube approach, using short, informative, and visually compelling content, looks like a good way to communicate complex scientific issues that have policy implications.

YouTube, 10 November 2008. Video.

Acid Test: Are the Oceans Already Lost?
Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:31:42 GMT

Technorati Tags: acidification,carbon reduction

Urgent action on international coral reef crisis urged

Coral reef scientists and policy makers from the world's most prominent coral reef nations are meeting in Australia this week to develop urgent action plans to rescue the world's richest center of marine biodiversity from gradual decline.

Human pressures on the Coral Triangle have raised grave concerns about the future of its fish, corals and other sea life, leading to a proposal by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for joint action by six governments, scientists, agencies and environmental non-government organisations of the region.

Marine scientists from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) at James Cook University and the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) are assisting the largest reef conservation program ever undertaken, known as the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security.

The Coral Triangle (CT) spans Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands, and has over 200 million inhabitants, a third of whom depend on the sea for food security or livelihood.

Spread over 5.7 million square kilometres, the CT has the highest diversity of marine life of any area on Earth.  It contains three quarters of the world’s known coral species, a third of the world’s coral reefs, more than 3,000 species of fish and the world’s richest mangrove forests. It generates $2.3 billion in sea products each year and is a major spawning ground for tuna and other valuable species.

Urgent Action On International Coral Reef Crisis Urged
Sat, 22 Nov 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Technorati Tags: coral,global warming,acidification

Cquestrate animated

Neat video showing the basic idea behind Cquestrate's plan for reducing atmospheric carbon and ocean acidity.

Cquestrate from cquestrate on Vimeo.

Cquestrate animated

Technorati Tags: cquestrate,global warming,carbon sequestration

New deep-sea observatory goes live

Off the coast of Central California, in the inky darkness of the deep sea, a bright orange metal pyramid about the size of two compact cars sits quietly on the seafloor. Nestled within the metal pyramid is the heart of the Monterey Accelerated Research System (MARS)—the first deep-sea ocean observatory offshore of the continental United States. Six years and $13.5 million dollars in the making, the MARS Observatory went "live" on Monday, November 10, 2008, returning the first scientific data from 900 meters (3,000 feet) below the ocean surface.

Construction of the observatory was coordinated by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). According to Marcia McNutt, MBARI president and CEO, "Getting all of the components of the observatory to work together perfectly in the remote, unforgiving, inhospitable environment of the deep sea was no easy task. But the tougher the challenge, the greater the glory when it is finally achieved. Some day we may look back at the first packets of data streaming in from the MARS observatory as the equivalent of those first words spoken by Alexander Graham Bell: 'Watson, come here, I need you!'"

Like the Hubble Space Telescope, the MARS Observatory is not designed for human occupation, but is operated remotely. The observatory will serve as both a "power strip" and a "high-speed internet connection" for scientific instruments in the deep sea. It will allow marine scientists to continuously monitor the dark, mysterious world of the deep sea, instead of relying on brief oceanographic cruises and instruments that run on batteries.

The heart of observatory consists of two titanium pressure cylinders packed with computer networking and power distribution equipment. These cylinders are housed in a protective metal pyramid on the deep seafloor. This central hub is connected to shore by a 52-kilometer-long cable that can carry up to 10,000 watts of power and two gigabits per second of data. Most of the cable is buried a meter (three feet) below the seafloor.

New deep-sea observatory goes live

Technorati Tags: acidification,Monterey Bay Aquarium