Multiagency Report on Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia (OAH) Programs and Needs

Identification Information

Citation

Originator: Oregon Coordinating Council on Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia

Publish Date: 2021

Online Link: None

BPA Project #:

Contact Information

Agency: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Name: Jenny Koester

Job Position: Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Policy Asst PL

Telephone: 541-961-5663

E-Mail Address: jennifer.a.koester@odfw.oregon.gov

Description

Abstract: This Multiagency Report on Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia (OAH) Programs and Needs (the Report) outlines for the legislature and the public, the existing programs and policies that are already at work to address OAH impacts for 8 of Oregon’s state agencies. The report also identifies potential opportunities and resource enhancements that would better-prepare Oregon for future ocean change. This multiagency report directly addresses the Governor’s recommendation to have State agencies consider and integrate the recommendations of the State’s OAH Action Plan into current management goals. A key aspect of the Report is to highlight opportunities to coordinate and effectively use limited resources. Fossil fuel combustion and related accumulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases have led to climate and ocean change. The earth’s ocean has absorbed 30% of the excess CO2 produced from fossil fuel combustion since the Industrial Revolution (mid 1800s), and the concentration of CO2 in the ocean’s surface continues to increase. When absorbed by seawater, CO2 undergoes chemical reactions that lower seawater pH, making it more acidified. Low oxygen conditions in the ocean (or hypoxia through deoxygenation), are also more common as a result of climate change, due to changing wind and weather patterns, changing ocean circulation, and a warming ocean. These patterns are not just present globally, they are being observed and documented in Oregon’s waters. The West Coast is a global hotspot of changing ocean conditions – most notably ocean acidification and hypoxia (OAH), and which has already impacted the coastal environment and the human communities that rely on them. Oregon is among the first places in the world to observe the direct impacts of OAH. Since the early 2000s, OAH has decreased the aquaculture industry’s ability to grow larval oysters – at the outset, OAH decreased production to near zero. In response, the oyster industry is now using closed-tank systems to create the water quality necessary for larval oyster production in most hatcheries, applying lessons learned from their increased understanding of coastal variability of OAH conditions. OAH is affecting our fishermen, who at times pull pots full of dead Dungeness crab, during what is now termed the “hypoxia season” each summer. Leading scientists are likening these hypoxia events to the Pacific Northwest’s late summer wildfire season. Changing OAH conditions are undermining Oregon’s ocean communities, economies, and ecosystems. The changes we see today are projected to get worse, and Oregon now has the opportunity to prepare for these changes to improve our future outlook.

Purpose:

Time Period of Content:

Geographic Extent: Oregon

Status: Final

Use Constraints:

Format: PDF

Data Quality Information

Lineage-Source: Submitted by the Oregon Coordinating Council on Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia to the Oregon Legislature as directed by the Oregon Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia 2019-2025 Action Plan

Data Information

No data information was supplied.

Entity and Attribute Information

Attributes Description: Field attribute information is available in the attached file(s).

Is a physical copy maintained for reference at Headquarters? Unknown