Doug George

To survive in this new world, many current practices need to change, including those of the fishing industry. Acidification is damaging not only shellfish but other commercial stocks, such as English sole, a bottom-dweller that feeds on invertebrates. Phil Levin, a research fisheries biologist at the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, works with computer models that predict a 50 percent decrease in the sole population with expected levels of ocean acidification by the end of the century. Without changing current fishing quotas, "we would overfish if we ignore ocean acidification," Levin said. The risk of overfishing in a more acidic ocean increases the need to understand the ecosystems. "Knowledge of indirect effects can promote sustainable fishing," he said.

"Protect and control what you can," said Fabry when asked about adaptation strategies. She referred to a 2006 report titled simply "A Reef Manager’s Guide to Coral Bleaching," published by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority in Australia, NOAA, and the World Conservation Union. The guide describes effective responses to a bleaching event and the steps to take to restore an affected reef. While reef bleaching is a much different problem caused by warming ocean temperatures, a search through the 178-page report did not find any reference to ocean acidification, which can potentially dissolve reefs entirely. Adaptation plans still have a ways to go.

The U.S. Congress intends to give those plans a strong boost. In January 2009, a bill was introduced in the House of Representatives called the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring, or FOARAM, Act, with a nod to foraminifera, a group of calcareous protists threatened by falling pH. Over four years, from 2009 to 2013, the Act authorizes $55 million to NOAA and $41 million to the National Science Foundation to develop, among other things, adaptation plans to cope with the loss of marine species and ecosystems. The first adaptation plan is to be produced within the next four years, including a National Academies review of the strategy.

Ultimately, cutting CO₂ emissions is the only way to slow down ocean acidification. But the process has already begun, and the oceans may be unrecognizable by the end of the century. The geologic record shows that the ocean ecosystem took five million years to fully adjust to new levels of acidity. That vast time scale is intimidating and almost paralyzing. Hopefully, the creativity that led us to this brink will give us an opportunity to change our ways.

Doug George is an oceanographer and freelance science journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He currently works for the Ocean Protection Council, and now avoids Coke to save his teeth.