No more oysters?!

Do you like oysters? I love them. I make trips up the coast just to sit in the sun with a bucket full of oysters, popping them open with a cold beer perched on the picnic table. It makes me start to daydream even now. But it turns out that there may not be many left to eat in a few decades.

In an article that speaks to numbers rather than speculation, Slate writer Maria Dolan reports that scientists are finding that the slow acidification of the ocean is having a dramatic effect on oyster populations. There are stories dating back to 2006 of young oysters dying in hatcheries and in the open ocean alike, all from ocean water that is corrosive because of slightly higher levels of acidity.

The industry finally pulled out of its tailspin in 2010, when NOAA scientists determined that what was killing the oyster larvae was corrosive water that entered the hatchery at certain times of the year—usually in summer, and specifically on days when winds from the northwest caused upwelling of deeper water, which is more acidic than surface water. 

Collective wipe of the forehead and we're back to shucking oysters and drinking beer, right?

For a while.

Scientists and others are working on a variety of stopgap measures that will mitigate the problem for a while. But I think the larger point here is something that we should all take note of, regardless of party:

The oceans are changing and these organisms that have been living in them for centuries are dying. Whatever the cause, the climate is changing and we are left with the challenge of what we are going to do about how it changes our lives.

What other stories have you seen or heard about that are clear, definitive evidence of changing climate?

Image courtesy of James Clay via flickr