Regional Resources, Regional Impacts

BOSTON, MA – Northeast resources and economic sectors, including commercial fishing, recreational boating, tourism and coastal development all face serious effects from climate change brought on by global warming, a group of scientists and researchers meeting June 10th agreed.

The group, comprising researchers from many of the region’s most prestigious marine science centers, including all three of the Woods Hole institutions, found surprising unanimity in their conclusions, according to CA-CP executive director Adam Markham. The one-day discussion of impacts of climate change on ocean waters from Long Island Sound through the Gulf of Maine was funded by a grant from the World Wildlife Fund, hosted by the New England Aquarium, and arranged by CA-CP, which works on climate issues in eight Northeastern states.

Co-moderators Markham and Agardi,
talking oceans—and solutions.

“The science of global warming is advanced enough now – and growing stronger almost daily – that we are all more comfortable talking about a range of consequences that are possible,” according to Markham, who moderated the event along with Tundi Agardy, executive director of Sound Seas. “Some things are already happening, while others, based on recent events, are likely to happen in the relatively near future.

The purpose of the meeting was to generate a number of areas where the probabilities of impacts are clear and strong enough that policymakers need to take notice and begin planning. In general, the scientists agreed that “organisms and systems that are already threatened, compromised, endangered, or at risk will be placed at greater peril as a result of changes resulting from global warming,” explains Agardy, who shared her global view of the state of the oceans, gained from working on the ongoing, five-year Millennium Assessment.

“Stressed systems are more susceptible to climate change, and, for the most part, science suggests that resulting ecosystem changes are less productive,” she noted. “This will include a broad spectrum of impacts affecting not only our food sources, but other industries based on coastal and ocean resources, as well as quality of life in the region.

“The important thing for people, and particularly policymakers to understand, is that climate change will therefore require a different set of responses,” Agardy said. “We shouldn’t simply accept that things will change and hope for the best, nor can we rely on engineering our way out of this.”

Specific concerns emerging from presentations of research and discussion among the group included:

• Damaged and destroyed habitats, and release of toxins stored in sediments, as a result of sea level rise and catastrophic storms;
• Reduced production of native species and increased success of invasive species as a result of warming of ocean waters;
• Potential loss of endangered species, like the Right Whale, resulting from climate change impacts on ecosystems;
• Increased ocean pollution and erosion from runoff, leading to spreading hypoxic zones and decreased biodiversity;
• Die-offs of fish and other organisms as a result of stagnation and anoxia;
• Higher incidences of harmful algal blooms and faster transmission of disease, particularly in marine mammals; and
• Higher risks of human health hazards, including beach closings, shellfish consumption warnings, and incidences of waterborne diseases.

Not all of the anticipated changes are from warmer water, the group noted. Changes in ocean currents as a result of warming in the atmosphere and resulting salinity changes will alter the physical environment of the Gulf of Maine, affecting the many important marine organisms residing there.

Participants included Charles Hannah of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Nova Scotia; Jennifer Hoffman of the Ocean Research College Academy of Everett Community College in Everett, WA; Charles Hopkinson. from the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole; Robert D. Kenney from the University of Rhode Island (URI); David Mountain, from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole; Kilaparti Ramakrishna of the Woods Hole Research Center; Mary Rapien from the New England Aquarium; Pam Rubinoff of the Coastal Resources Center at URI; and Henry (Hal) Walker from the US EPA’s Environmental Effects Research Laboratory.

Expert summit: Hannah, Hoffman, Mountain (left) Walker and Kenney (right) dialogue about what’s happening to our oceans as a result of global warming, and about how we can (or might, or should) respond.

A full report on the findings of the group will be available in the late summer or fall. It is intended to be a document that will instruct a range of stakeholder groups, from the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers to local planning boards and boating groups. This broad-reaching approach is important because the consequences of global warming in Northeast waters will affect many different sectors, and mitigation will require action at many different levels. Stay tuned to CA-CP’s website to see the report…

—Bill Burtis