Your CO2 killed my oysters

Human CO2 is killing oysters on the US west coast. It's the early stages of our CO2 assault on the ocean.

CO2 makes carbonic acid in water. Since we're responsible for the excess CO2 in the air, then there is absolutely no debate about the human causes of the ocean acid monster.

Here's an interesting and scary article about how oyster growers on the west coast have been hit hard by the ocean acid monster, and how they've responded with a good adaptation strategy. They only take low CO2 water into their oyster tanks. BTW, the strategy works for an oyster farm, but not for wild oysters, they're stuck living in the water no matter how much CO2 it contains.

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Oyster project killed

New York Harbor, as most harbors, could use more oysters. But alas, it's not to be since a Baykeeper oyster restoration project had to be killed out of fear that poachers might steal the oysters, eat them, and become sick.

There are so many layers of irony here I don't even know where to start.

If they steal the oysters and get sick, we're supposed to worry about them? Sorry, eating stolen oysters should make people sick, this would be divine justice. The reason for killing the oyster project was to protect the legitimate shellfish industry, since oysters making people sick might hurt legal shellfish business. This seems crazy. Save the NY oysters, they deserve a chance and we need them to thrive.

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Oyster restoration success in the Chesapeake

Good news for oysters, and that means good news for the Chesapeake Bay. Gigantic oyster-shell artificial reefs are proving successful as a home for oyster refuges. This is good news, after a spate of bad news for oysters in recent years.

Oysters are great things to have in a bay, they produce habitat and filter out algae that can otherwise contribute to nuisance algae blooms. And...they make a great dinner, especially when eaten raw.

The newly-made oyster reefs are sanctuaries where oysters are left to grow and breed unmolested. Protecting some good reefs makes sense, to help repopulate the bay. Let's hope the early success continues.

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Cry, the beloved oyster

Oysters are my favorite ocean animal. What can I say, they're charismatic and sexy and interesting and yummy and important and...well...beloved.

Imagine my dismay when I read this article. Actually, it wasn't a big surprise to me, I've heard about this before. But the news just keeps getting worse.

Acid in the ocean seems to be killing oysters today, as we sit on our cushioned chairs and sofas watching TV. It's not a future crime, or a distant speculation of what might be. It's here and now.

Cry, the belove oysters, while it still might make a difference. Cry, and then get off your cushions and do something. And it won't help to simply stop eating them. Indeed, eat an oyster first, and then go charging of to save them, fortified with the elixir of life.

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Our vanishing oysters

I love oysters. I love to eat the little buggers, and I admire their "fix-it" role in ocean ecosystems--consuming at least some of the fruits of our effluent when they eat plankton. I also enjoy looking at them underwater in reefs, and separate when they're malleable and often twisted shapes are visible.

In brief, oysters rock. To show my appreciation and bond with oysters, I have a fantastic little oyster shell (drilled naturally by a predator and smoothed by ocean surf) that I found in Baja California and now wear around my neck on a leather string (right).

So imagine my dismay when I read the first-ever worldwide report on the status of oysters, and it's gloomy. I know that oysters are in trouble in the US, but I don't really know that much about their worldwide status.

A study by the Nature Conservancy says that 85% of the world's oyster reefs are gone. Oyster reefs are one of the most endangered ocean ecosystems in the world. Cry for the missing bivalves.

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Asians banned from the Chesapeake Bay

Asian oysters will not be allowed to populate the Chesapeake Bay, despite declines in native oyster populations.

Is this xenophobic protectionism or smart ecology? Opinions differ.

The native Eastern Oyster, reduced 99% by overfishing and disease, is in trouble despite officials spending many millions of dollars in efforts to bring them back.

Asian oysters were touted as a possible ecological replacement by some, in hopes that they would help filter the water and provide income to watermen who could farm and sell the oysters.

According to the Washington Post:

Today's announcement also marks the end of discussions over the past few weeks, which began with Virginia officials for Asian oyster farms, Maryland officials against them, and the Corps in the middle. A number of federal agencies and environmental groups had also weighed in against the Asian oyster, saying the risk of it escaping and playing havoc in the Chesapeake's battered ecosystem was too high.

Could it be that it's time for ecological replacement therapy in the Chesapeake? Shall we hold out for species purity even where the need for oysters is great and the native species seems unable to mount a comeback? I don't know, but I wonder.

Introduced species are usually a problem, even when well-intentioned. But can we hold out for native species entirely in a warming world in desperate need of ecosystem services like those oysters can provide? I have a feeling this is an issue that will receive more, not less debate in the future.

For now, let's cheer for oyster restoration projects, in the hope that the native Chesapeake oyster will come roaring back.

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Oyster restoration project

Loss of oysters is bad, and Massachusetts Audubon is trying to fix that at an Audubon sanctuary in Massachusetts (see photo).

Wellfleet Bay might have a few (thousand) more oysters soon, thanks to efforts to build habitat for baby oysters. This is a good project, relying on natural oyster reproduction and using human intervention to replace and restore a missing ecological element--massive mounds of oyster shells that provide a suitable home for baby oysters. Human intervention to replace something that's missing because of us. Makes sense, and it just might work.

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