Scientists around the world have issued alarming warnings that the acidity of the oceans is rapidly rising due to the high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The oceans absorb one quarter of the carbon dioxide gas sent into the atmosphere by people burning fuels. Carbon dioxide is absorbed by the oceans and as it dissolves it forms an acid in the seawater. This makes the oceans acidic.

The measurement for acidity is the pH. The lower the pH number the more acidity there is. Oceans at their surfaces currently have an average pH of 8.2. The pH of the oceans is down by 0.1 units due to people burning fuels and sending the CO₂ gas into the atmosphere. The oceans weren’t so acidic since the time of the dinosaurs. The rate is critically changing at a rate 100 times greater than normal. At this rate by year 2100 the pH of the oceans could fall by 0.5 units. This is damaging to the oceans and once it’s done it is virtually irreversible. By 2100 the carbon toxins must be considerably less than 900 Giga tones by 2100.

Coral reefs and Southern oceans are under the most severe impact. The ocean acidification means a certain death for many sea creatures. Besides the acidification the increase in carbon dioxide levels in the ocean makes it impossible for numerous fish species to take oxygen from the seawater.

Didymo Invasive Algae Spreading

Environment Centerbury regional waterway experts say their rivers may look like open sewers if the algae takes. Biosecurity New Zealand says it is impossible to contain the  invasive algae from spreading to other waterways. The invasive algae has been found spreading in Arkansas, Montana, South Dakota in the US , in British Columbia in Canada, in Poland and now New Zealand.

Report by M Sonny for SNTC

In the North Atlantic there are undersea volcanoes that are like mountains under the sea. These sea mountains are the habitat of fish that are caught by commercial fisheries. Some of these species are the blue ring and the morid cod. These species have been overhunted in shallower waters and are now targeted in deep waters by the fisheries. The fishing companies use trollers which are huge nets that troll on the bottom of the ocean at depths of 1,500 meters (4,900 feet) and deeper. Approximately half of  the caught creatures are discarded. The trolls net are of  large size and a large size object suck as a 747 jet plane can be caught by the nets easily. This shows how many tons of fish and other sea creatures are caught and discarded besides the catch.

The North Atlantic sea mountains are cone shaped and there is over 800 of them in the North Atlantic alone. They are up to five kilometers (three miles) high and up to 100 kilometers (62 miles) wide. Coral species as well as other species that attach themselves to rocks such as sponges and anemones grow on them. They also have an increased concentration of plankton thus laying the foundation to the food chain eco system going from deep sea fish to predators such as swordfish and sharks. Many of the deep sea fish species take a long time to mature and are vulnerable to over fishing.

Report by M Sonny Mercan for SNTC

Recently, after hearing stories passed down to our Anishinabek (Ojibway) elders about a land that once existed in the Great Lakes region, scientists have used sonars to look at the configuration of the lakebed of the Great Lakes. The scientists were surprised to find caves, riverbeds, waterfalls and mountain slopes dating back over tens of thousands of years. They also sent diving teams to look at them and they discovered, rooted into the lakebed, tree stumps carbon dated back to the last major Ice Age.

The other discovery that surprised the scientists is that the Anishinabek storytellers tell about at the period when the rivers around the Great Lakes changed the direction in which they flowed to which they flow now. This dramatic event and natural phenomenon of the change in the flowing direction of the rivers around the Great Lakes occurred at the end of the last Ice Age 13 000 years ago.

Ref.: Discovery Channel/Daily Planet/Sunday Oct. 20. 2002 - Science Meets Tradition

Ref.: Discovery Channel/Time Capsule/ 11:30 pm Sat Oct. 4. 2003