UAF Assessing the Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Alaska's Fisheries
Funding Request: $2.7M

Alaskan waters are becoming more acidic at an alarming rate for marine organisms that build shells, from the Alaska King Crab down to the tiny Pteropod. Ocean Acidification (OA) is a process of chemical reactions that endangers the health of shell-building marine creatures. Many of these calcifying organisms are commercially important species, or serve as prey to crucial fisheries.

What is Ocean Acidification?

Ocean Acidification begins with carbon dioxide (CO₂) from human activities being released into the air. A portion of CO₂ released into the air is absorbed by the sea. Increased CO₂ in the seawater increases the acidity and reduces the availability of calcium carbonate minerals, which are the building blocks of shells and skeletons for many marine organisms.

Why is Ocean Acidification important to Alaska?

While there is still considerable work to be done, it is apparent that the marine waters in this region are quickly becoming dangerous to shell building organisms. Recent field observations and models results have shown that OA effects are appearing at a faster rate in high-latitude regions of the global ocean than tropical and subtropical regions. This process could have profound and lasting consequences in the coastal oceans of Alaska, which are uniquely sensitive and susceptible to further reductions in ocean pH.

Who will be affected?

Alaska has over 6,000 miles of coastline, more than the entire continental United States, and it supports a $1.5B fishing industry, as well as numerous subsistence communities that will all have to deal with the unknown consequences of OA.

• In the southern parts of the state the vast salmon fishery, as well as Pollock and Halibut, may suffer from the potential loss of prey as calcifying organisms disappear.
• The robust and expanding oyster aquaculture industry may experience similar losses like those observed along the Oregon and Washington coasts due to expanding regions of water that are harmful to their shell structure.
• The crab fisheries in the Bering Sea may be ground-zero for the short-term impacts of OA.
• While there are currently no commercial fisheries in the Arctic Ocean, the region will likely serve as a bellwether for future OA conditions further to the south, and can provide valuable insights into the future of the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska.

What is being done?

Many efforts to respond to these challenges are already underway, under the direction of Prof. Jeremy Mathis and his research staff at the UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. In March 2011, two state-of-the-art moorings were deployed in Alaska to monitor rising CO₂ levels in the ocean and the subsequent change in ocean chemistry. The newly established Ocean Acidification Research Center (OARC) at UAF has proposed an ambitious program that will both monitor OA in Alaska's coastal environment and develop a coupled ocean acidification-economic model to fully determine the effects of OA on Alaska's fisheries resources in the near-term and over the next century.

What will further funding accomplish?

The $2.7M requested in the state budget will expand the number of moorings around Alaska. The data from these moorings will provide a kind of early warning system for Alaska's fisheries and will be combined with other environmental data and fish stock assessments. This will make it possible for the first time ever, to quantify the actual cost of OA to Alaska now and in the future. Alaska's commercial fishing industries, as well as all stakeholders throughout the state need sensible solutions to the OA problem that will allow them to handle these challenges while staying profitable and environmentally responsible. For the sake of our state's economy, as well as all the future generations of fishermen who will rely on the ocean for their livelihoods, we need to aggressively pursue a full understanding of the ocean acidification problem so that through technological innovations, management, and sound decisions we can keep our fishing grounds productive and our oceans vital.

• Letters of Support