Ocean scientists sound the alarm. - 16 Mar 2010  
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Ocean scientists sound the alarm.
Chemical oceanographer Dr. Jeremy Mathis and a team of researchers at the University of Fairbanks Alaska in the USA have found that the rising acidity of northern ocean waters has decreased its ability to absorb calcium and aragonite.

These minerals are vital for shell-bearing animals, with related studies already demonstrating that the region’s king crabs suffer higher mortality rates as ocean acidity increases.

Meanwhile, oceanographer Dr. Jack Barth and colleagues at Oregon State University have also expressed concern about the effect of global warming on the Pacific Ocean, having observed that hypoxic, or low oxygen, regions have expanded.

Recently, species such as Dungeness crabs, sea stars and sea anemones have been seen dying off in massive numbers due to oxygen deprivation. Moreover, noxious bacteria thrive in these conditions.

Highlighting the forecast of such events from previous climate change models, Dr. Barth stated, “The real surprise is how this has become the new norm. We are seeing it year after year.”

Dr. Mathis, Dr. Barth and colleagues at the University of Fairbanks and Oregon State University, we appreciate your detailed studies and share your concern about this disruption to ocean ecospheres.

Let us all quickly join hands in meaningful actions to halt climate change and protect all lives on our planet. Supreme Master Ching Hai has often expressed concern about the grave state of the oceans while also highlighting the solution for the entire planet, as during a May 2009 videoconference in Togo.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Scientists are now concerned that dead zones like this will just continue to be more and more, get bigger and bigger, which of course is lethal for all life.

From the oceans themselves, we are seeing warming temperatures, rising sea levels, increasing acidification and terrible levels of pollution. So global warming is affecting the oceans, which in turn is affecting the fish.

This is an equally urgent situation as the one presented by livestock industry, and it has the exact same solution. Stop eating the flesh; stop killing for food; stop eating the fish. This will help restore the balance of both the ocean and land, immediately.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Global-Warming/2009/1204/global-warming-increases-acidity-in-alaskan-seas
http://www.sfos.uaf.edu/directory/faculty/mathis/
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2010-03/08/c_13201667.htm

West Africa to protect coastal mangroves.
Bridging the land and the sea, mangrove swamps lining the coast of such countries as Sierra Leone are rich in biodiversity and provide natural nurseries to many species of marine wildlife.

Now, with only 800,000 hectares remaining of the country’s original 3 million, Wetlands International Program Officer Richard Dacosta stated, “If the mangroves disappear… the saltwater tide will invade river estuaries and coastal areas. Local communities on the coast will have to move.” Sierra Leone has thus joined the West African Mangrove Initiative to rehabilitate the ecosystem by planting more trees, which will also serve to prevent further coastal erosion.

Also, as the mangroves’ disappearance has been largely due to their use in the area’s salt production, residents are now being encouraged toward more sustainable methods such as solar drying.

Many thanks, Wetlands International, West African Mangrove Initiative and Sierra Leone, for your caring efforts to protect the environment while sustaining livelihoods. May Heaven bless the region and her people to flourish in harmony with the Earth.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6272K720100308
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/africa/west/Sierra-Leones-Fragile-Mangrove-Forests-Under-Threat-
86271842.html

Extra News
According to the UN's Water Poverty Index, more than half of the 22 Arab nations are currently facing critical water shortages, with supplies for those bordering the Persian Gulf forecast to be reduced another 50% by 2030.  
http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidZAWYA20100313083935/Water%20Crisis%20in%20Mideast%20/

A prolonged heat wave continues across the Indian state of Orissa with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius in some areas.
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/enviornment/mercury-touches-40-degrees-in-two-orissa-
towns_100332416.html#ixzz0hnyy2trr

Documentary “Summit on the Summit” describes the trek of Ethiopian-born and Grammy-nominated musician Kenna, who organized a group that ascended Africa’s Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise awareness about accelerated glacial melt and an increasingly dire shortage of drinking water.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2010/2010-03-11-091.html
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1633856/20100312/kenna.jhtml

Top US environmentalist David de Rothschild is sailing from the USA to Australia to raise awareness of huge areas where plastic has collected and is still accumulating in the ocean, harming marine life and even transferring toxins into food supplies.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/03/09/plastic.recycling.advocate/index.html