Taylor Shellfish says oyster prices could double if acidication forces production inland
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Grist] by Madeleine Thomas - October 2, 2014
It’s early September and I’m standing with Benoit Eudeline overlooking the gray, evergreen-lined waters of Dabob Bay, an estuary off of Washington’s Puget Sound. Eudeline, the chief hatchery scientist for Taylor Shellfish Farms — the largest producer of farmed shellfish in the country — leads me to a tiny shed not too far from the shoreline. The shed is the lifeline for the hatchery; a command center of monitors and gauges helps make sure that the water being pumped in from the Bay doesn’t kill the millions of budding oyster larvae growing inside.
Eudeline and his team have real reason to worry about these slurpable delicacies. According to some estimates, our oceans are acidifying at rates 10 to 100 times faster than scientists have ever mapped before. By 2050, much of the Pacific Northwest’s oceans are expected to be 100 to 150 percent more acidic — bad news for oysters, the humble bivalves dying by the billions, as the water prevents many larvae from forming their shells...
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