The drop in acid in water is troubling for shellfish.
During the first two weeks of an oyster’s life they are especially sensitive to the level of oxygen and acid in the water.
In high acid events, oyster’s shells deform – and often times they die.
Waldbusser believes conditions will only get harder, not easier on shellfish.
“We know the chemistry will change and these extreme events will get worse and worse. And so periods of time that are easy or good to grow oysters will diminish in time for the hatchery,” he says.
Fortunately, OSU was able to help the Whiskey Creek Shellfish Hatchery.
Burke Hales, a professor at OSU, created a way to measure the chemistry of the water used to spawn shellfish.
That allows the hatchery to treat the water and provide a successful growing environment for their oysters.
“With that knowledge,” Hales says, “the Whiskey Creek folks are able to change their operations: the timing of their water pumping, how they condition the water. Now they’re back to almost 100 percent of their pre-crash productivity.”
But Hales believes the current method of overcoming ocean acidification is not a long-term solution.
“Netarts Bay has always had some good times; it’s always had some bad times. But the frequency of the good times is less and the frequency of the bad times is greater. And the bad times are a little bit worse than they used to be,” says Hales.
To combat the problem for the long term researchers at OSU point to reducing the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere which causes ocean acidification.
“We have to recognize that fossil fuel emissions are a cause of climate change and ocean acidification. We also have to recognize that we’ve relied on them for a long time and we have to find reasonable transition plans to move away from fossil fuels and into alternative energy,” says Waldbusser.
For Barton at the Whiskey Creeks Shellfish Hatchery, he’s thankful they’ve found a way to overcome the effect the effect carbon dioxide has had on the ocean.
“If we had not figured out what ocean acidification was doing to this hatchery we would for sure be out of business,” he says.
However, he is not confident their current techniques for treating the water will sustain them forever.
“The short term prospects are pretty good. But within the next couple of decades we’re going to cross a line I don’t think we’re going to be able to come back from,” he says. “A lot of people have the luxury of being skeptics about climate change and ocean acidification. But we don’t have that choice. If we don’t change the chemistry of the water going into our tanks, we’ll be out of business. It’s that simple for us.”
Originally published here