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Cook Inletkeeper
Historic
Message on Ocean Acidification Launched from “Coal Bay”
On
September 6, 2009, Cook Inletkeeper and more than 100 fishing
boats, sail boats, skiffs and kayaks took to the waters of
Homer, Alaska, to spell-out an urgent message to protect jobs,
coastal communities and fisheries from the threat of
ocean acidification. According to
scientific reports, the ocean is growing increasingly acidic
due to climate change, which threatens to unravel important
marine food webs and ecosystems. To elevate their concerns,
commercial and sport fishermen, along with a large flotilla of
kayakers, arranged their vessels to spell-out an Acid Ocean
“SOS” as part of a ˜Voices for the Ocean”™ event hosted by the
Alaska Marine Conservation Council (AMCC) and the
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) with International
Aerial Artist
John Quigley. Inletkeeper played an active role helping to
organize and publicize the event.
 
Video
& Photo Links:
wildlifehd.com/media/SOS_Ocean_Acidification_full_SD_.mov
wildlifehd.com/media/SOS_Ocean_Acidification_full_HD_.mov
http://humanvoicesnow.blogspot.com/
Scott Dickerson Photography Photos
Ironically, the event unfolded
in a portion of Kachemak Bay also known as “Coal Bay.” After
the aerial art event, Cook Inletkeeper Bob Shavelson told a
crowd of several hundred people about the ocean acidification
and climate change threats posed by the
Chuitna coal strip mine in Upper Cook Inlet. The coal from
Chuitna coal strip would produce over 54 billion pounds of CO2
each year, or about the equivalent of 4.5 million cars per year;
over the life of the mine, coal from the mine would produce over
1 trillion pounds of CO2, which equates to the annual emissions
from over a billion cars.
CO2 from the combustion of coal
and other fossil fuels increases the acidity of our ocean, and
makes it harder for shellfish and plankton at the base of the
food chain to survive.
Event
participants want their ˜SOS” to be heard by the U.S. Congress
and international leaders participating in the upcoming United
Nations climate negotiations in Copenhagen in December, and want
their call for help will result in definitive action to curb
ocean acidification, referred to by scientists as the ˜evil
twin” of climate change.
"Alaska's senators
know that ocean acidification is a looming danger to our
fisheries,” said Alan Parks, a commercial fisherman with the
Alaska Marine Conservation Council “This message from fishermen
is to support our leaders in taking the necessary action now to
reduce carbon emissions. Time is of the essence.”
Parks and others are asking
leaders to follow science and not politics, and with this “SOS”
are calling on state, national, and international leaders to
protect the ocean from the acidifying, oxygen-depleting, and
climate-altering impacts of uncontrolled fossil fuel emissions.
While the
United States has been called the “Saudi Arabia of Coal” due to
its prolific coal reserves, few know that Alaska possesses
roughly half the nation’s coal. Although only one relatively
small coal mine currently operates in Alaska, there are numerous
proposals to develop coal mines and combustion facilities. For
example, rising energy costs are driving interest in China and
other Asian countries for coal from the Chuitna coal strip mine
in Upper Cook Inlet.
Additional Contacts:
Celia Alario, Voices for the
Ocean Event Media, 310.721.6517, celiaalario@gmail.com
Alan Parks, AMCC Homer Outreach
Coordinator, 907.399.3096, alan@akmarine.org
Brad Warren, Sustainable
Fisheries Partnership, 206.579.2407,
bradwarr@mac.com
Bob Shavelson, Inletkeeper,
907.235.4068 x22,
bob@inletkeeper.org
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