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June 21, 2011
A report from the International Programme on the State of the Oceans makes for sobering reading.
Gary Sauer-Thompson, sea abstract, Victor Harbor, 2010
Overfishing, pollution, run-off of fertilisers from farming and the acidification of the seas caused by increasing carbon dioxide emissions are combining to put marine creatures in extreme danger, Mass extinction of species will be "inevitable" if current trends continue due to the actions human beings. The report states that:
Although concealed beneath the waves, the evidence of wholesale degradation and destruction of the marine realm is clear, made manifest by the collapse of entire fisheries and the growth of deoxygenated dead zones, for example. The cumulative result of our actions is a serial decline in the ocean’s health and resilience; it is becoming demonstrably less able to survive the pressures exerted upon it, and this will become even more evident as the added pressures of climate change exacerbate the situation.
It adds that without significant changes in the policies that influence human interactions with the marine environment, the current rate of ecosystem change and collapse will accelerate and direct consequences will be felt by all societies.
On climate change the report says that:
The increase of anthropogenic co2 in the atmosphere represents a direct threat to all marine ecosystems through changes in ocean temperature, sea level rise, decreased sea ice cover, increased frequency of extreme events such as coral bleaching and storms, increased stratification of the ocean – altering patterns of ocean mixing, lowered oxygen levels and increased risks of eutrophication in coastal waters. The ocean naturally absorbs co2 from the atmosphere as one of its earth System services but the excess overload now being absorbed is altering the natural chemical balance of the sea and leading to an increase in its acidity. This is a direct threat to marine organisms that build their skeletons out of calcium carbonate, especially reef-forming corals (Scleractinia).
You can see why there is such an emphasis on The Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It is under threat from both global warming (it causes bleaching) and nutrient enrichment or eutrophication from the chemical pollutants in the fertilizer used by the coastal agriculture and waste treatment plants.
The reef is just not the marine ecosystem --its also a tourism and fishing industry that is worth billions to Australia’s economy -- and yet you rarely hear people like Paul Howes or Tony Abbott talking about protecting these jobs by making the polluters pay for the damage they have caused. Presumably their message is that there is no need to worry because the adaptive qualities of coral reefs would mitigate the effects of climate change.
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The practitioners of climate anti-science---and that includes Quadrant --- would claim that peer review is used to enforce groupthink and that science is not to be trusted.