Publication Date:
2022-05-25
Description:
Author Posting. © IOP Publishing, 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of IOP Publishing for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Environmental Research Letters 4 (2009): 024007, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/4/2/024007.
Description:
Ocean acidification, a consequence of rising anthropogenic CO2 emissions, is poised to
change marine ecosystems profoundly by increasing dissolved CO2 and decreasing ocean
pH, carbonate concentration, and calcium carbonate mineral saturation state worldwide.
These conditions hinder growth of calcium carbonate shells and skeletons by many
marine plants and animals. The first direct impact on humans may be through declining
harvests and fishery revenues from shellfish, their predators, and coral reef habitats. In a
case study of U.S. commercial fishery revenues, we begin to constrain the economic
effects of ocean acidification over the next 50 years using atmospheric CO2 trajectories
and laboratory studies of its effects, focusing especially on mollusks. In 2007, the $3.8
billion U.S. annual domestic ex-vessel commercial harvest ultimately contributed $34
billion to the U.S. gross national product. Mollusks contributed 19%, or $748 million, of
the ex-vessel revenues that year. Substantial revenue declines, job losses, and indirect
economic costs may occur if ocean acidification broadly damages marine habitats, alters
marine resource availability, and disrupts other ecosystem services. We review the
implications for marine resource management and propose possible adaptation strategies
designed to support fisheries and marine-resource-dependent communities, many of
which already possess little economic resilience.
Description:
This work was supported by NASA grant NNG05GG30G
and a generous grant from the WHOI Development Office.
Keywords:
Ocean acidification
;
Commercial fisheries
;
Economic assessment
;
Management implications
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Preprint
Format:
application/pdf
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