Originally published February 15 2005
Carbon dioxide may kill off coral reefs in 70 years, scientists warn; ocean acidity threatens several fish species
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The man-made buildup of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere will likely kill all of the world's coral reefs before the turn of the century, a group of British scientists said recently. The group said carbon dioxide has led to a dramatic increase in the acidity of the world's oceans in recent years. That, in turn, spells trouble for coral life. The scientists also said high acid levels threaten cod and other fish species.
Coral reefs could be dead within two generations and cod replaced by jellyfish because of the acidification of the sea, scientists said yesterday.
Carol Turley, the head of science at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, told a conference in Exeter that the acidity of the sea was rising through chemical processes that turned carbon dioxide into carbonic acid.
Ms Turley said that acidification was likely to have "a severe impact" on organisms with calcium in their shells or skeletons, from plankton to sea urchins.
As half of all carbon from the atmosphere is "fixed" by microscopic plankton, the take-up of carbon is likely to slow down as the seas became more acidic, accelerating global warming.
If fish were not there, the sea would fill up with organisms such as jellyfish, which could eat other kinds of plankton.
"In cartoon form, you could say that people should be prepared to change their tastes from cod and chips to jellyfish and chips," she said.
The rise in the acidity of the sea, which is believed to have begun with the burning of fossil fuels during the Industrial Revolution, has emerged as one of the key messages from the conference on climate change that will be relayed by Tony Blair to world leaders at this year's meeting of the G8, of which Britain is president.
An estimated 400 billion tons of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels emitted since the Industrial Revolution has been taken up by the oceans - some 50 per cent of the carbon dioxide emitted.
Scientists from the Plymouth laboratory have given the Government an urgent briefing on the problem.
Jerry Blackford, a colleague of Ms Turley, said that the rise in acidity could kill coral reefs long before global warming made the sea too hot for them.
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