Tag Archives: adaptation

Sea Change – Supply challenges and climate changes are forcing the U.S. seafood industry to adapt

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March 2015, By Sherry Daye Scott, QSR Magazine

California-based fast casual Slapfish, which serves a range of premium seafood items—including a Bowl of Shrimp either chilled or fried—partners with Aquarium of the Pacific to develop and maintain a sustainable sourcing plan.

California-based fast casual Slapfish, which serves a range of premium seafood items—including a Bowl of Shrimp either chilled or fried—partners with Aquarium of the Pacific to develop and maintain a sustainable sourcing plan.

Though U.S. consumption is well below other proteins today, seafood will likely be an increasingly important part of the American diet in the years to come. The country’s population is predicted to grow by 89 million between 2010 and 2050 to 401 million people. More people require more food—and land limitations mean the beef, pork, and poultry industries can only produce so much volume.

Increased domestic consumption will have a direct impact on restaurant operators who serve finfish and shellfish. On one hand, more Americans eating seafood means the potential for increased sales. On the other, it also means the potential for higher wholesale prices. And while space limitations largely don’t affect the seafood industry, it has its own challenges to contend with, especially in the U.S.

For starters, more than 90 percent of the seafood the U.S. consumes is imported from countries with their own growing demand for protein. China, the global seafood producer and processor leader, is experiencing a rise in its middle class. China used to be a net exporter of seafood, but now it’s a net importer. The same is true of other seafood-producing countries in Asia and South America.

“If I am a buyer of seafood,” says Sebastian Belle, executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Association (MAA), “global demand is going to make it harder for me to source.”

In addition, climate changes are forcing suppliers to reevaluate their sourcing practices and invest in new practices, like aquaculture. These challenges have all levels of seafood stakeholders looking at new ways to approach the present—and future—state of the seafood industry.

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Desperately Seeking a Rapid-Onset Response to a Slow-Onset Event – The Case of Ocean Acidification

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International Institute for Sustainable Development. May 19th, 2014. By David Osborn, Director, Environment Laboratory, IAEA

I last wrote an article for this bulletin in July 2009 (Guest article #17). On that occasion, I reflected on the immense expectations surrounding the climate negotiations in Copenhagen and the need to ‘Seal the Deal.’ I can see many of you holding back a wry smile as you remember that ambitious campaign so soon forgotten.

Back in those heady days of hope and anticipation, amid all the noise and distraction, I highlighted the pressing need to not forget the changing ocean. I invited governments to acknowledge the impact of climate change on the ocean and find ways to proactively ensure its resilience. Longing for a rapid onset of reform, I called for an ‘ocean of change’ that would finally recognise the centrality and criticality of ocean health to both mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change.

Alas, my hopes for a tsunami of reform – while not altogether in vain – were far from realised. Now in 2014, as ambition and hope again escalate in the recycled world of climate change negotiations, like an undefeatable phoenix the plight of the world’s coasts and oceans must once again be thrust to the fore to ensure their centrality in the solution is not overlooked.

Key among the myriad of challenges facing the marine environment is the slow-onset phenomenon known as ocean acidification. As atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration climbs, ocean pH falls. It’s that simple. Falling pH in turn makes it harder for marine life to capture carbonates and fix calcium to build shells and skeletons. It may be a death sentence for many species, particularly those where calcification is a part of their early life cycle. The impacts of ocean acidification will be felt at the microscopic scale, e.g. calcifying plankton, through to the habitat scale, e.g. coral reefs. The implications for the marine food webs and the provision of ecosystem services are potentially catastrophic with extinctions in the next 50-200 years being a very realistic scenario.

Clearly, more and accelerated science is urgently needed. In this regard, I am pleased to report that the Environment Laboratories of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Monaco are making this issue a focus of their work, using for example, radio-isotopes of calcium to better understand the past, present and future impacts of ocean acidification. This includes observing physiological and ecological effects under different climate change scenarios. In an effort to improve collaboration and shared learning, the laboratories operate the Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre (OA-ICC). This is currently funded by the Peaceful Uses Initiative of the IAEA; however the urgent need for expanded research, data generation and knowledge products far outweighs the resources that are currently available.

The challenge of addressing ocean acidification is a cross-cutting one, relevant to the three dimensions of the ongoing climate change negotiations: mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage.

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Workshop Takes a Practical, Proactive Look at Ocean Acidification

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The Daily World, April 5th, 2014. By Brionna Friedrich

The frightening impacts of a changing climate are sometimes unavoidable, but an upcoming workshop takes a proactive look at how to cope with changing coastlines and ocean chemistry.

“If we can snatch opportunity out of the jaws of climate change, we’ll be doing a smart thing,” said Eric Swenson, communications and outreach director of Global Ocean Health. “That’s a real message I hope resonates and people can act on. Can we benefit from the coming circumstances?”

The non-profit initiative focuses on the impacts of ocean acidification, the absorption of carbon dioxide into ocean waters, which is already impacting local industries like shellfish growers.

It specifically works with seafood producers and coastal communities on options for adaptation.

The free workshop, set for Tuesday in the Rotary Log Pavilion in Aberdeen, will connect climate change and ocean acidification experts with local and regional policymakers and the general public.

The morning session, from 9 a.m. to noon, will feature speakers on changing aquaculture and how marine plants and grasses can help absorb CO2.

Stephen Crooks, climate change program director for Environmental Services Associates, has recently briefed the White House and the United Nations on the impacts of estuary restoration, Swenson said. “Now he’ll be doing a briefing for the Washington coast in Aberdeen,” he said. “We’ve got some actual world-class folks on the agenda.”

Marine and coastal vegetation provides opportunities, from contributions to overall estuary health to a possible commercial enterprise, harvesting food and biofuel.

“This isn’t pie-in-the-sky, people are doing this and making money at it in Asia,” Swenson said.

It could also provide a tool for shellfish farmers. Acidic ocean waters can decimate delicate oyster larvae.

“If you can just move the meter a point or two in some key areas, it’s the difference between life and death,” Swenson said.

“There’s a fair amount of research that shows that when shellfish and seagrasses co-exist — the right kind of seagrasses — it’s to the benefit of both,” he continued.

“We will be looking at how plants sequester the carbon. The salt marsh plants, for instance, do a job that’s about five times as effective as a tropical forest, so photosynthesis can really be made to work for us.”

A free lunch will be offered before the afternoon session, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., which will discuss local planning and policy processes that can help in preparation for a changing coastline.

“We’re bringing (ocean acidificaton) into a wider context of what the coast is going to look at in 20, 30 or 40 or more years, and it’s going to be very different than what it is now,” Swenson said. “By trying to consider what the coastline is going to look like with the higher sea, we may be able to shelter shellfish, we may be able to protect our estuaries, which are such nurseries for a variety of sea life.”

“If we learn to plan for it well, sea level rise might be more than just a problem — which it certainly will be — but an opportunity,” Global Ocean Health Director Brad Warren wrote in a press release. “Higher water will make more room for estuarine ecosystems that can sometimes chemically shelter vulnerable larvae from corrosive waters. It won’t be a smooth transition, but sea level rise may open up new areas for farming shellfish and marketable marine macroalgae. It will increase coastal habitats that support hunting and fishing and expand the nursery grounds that support most of the world’s seafood supply.”

Some basic understanding of ocean acidification will help for those who attend the workshop, Swenson said, but scientific expertise isn’t a requirement.

“I think people who have at least a fundamental grasp of what we’re talking about will be better served by the meeting, but it is designed to be open to the public, free of charge, with that free lunch included, in an attempt to draw in people who want to learn more about this,” Swenson said.

The Rotary Log Pavilion is located at 1401 Sargent Blvd. in Aberdeen. No registration is required for the workshop.

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