Sign our petition telling the EPA we must act now to stop ocean acidification. Get the latest on our work for biodiversity and learn how to help in our free weekly e-newsletter.   Our new Infographic highlights the risks of ocean acidification to wildlife and society   Check out this video on corals and ocean acidification. KEY SPECIES PROFILES Learn how some species are already being harmed by ocean acidification . . . and how others will be soon. REGIONAL PROFILES Learn about the dangers they — and the species they harbor — are already facing. OCEAN ACIDIFICATION FAQ Get all your questions answered. RELATED CAMPAIGNS • Oceans Program • Climate Law Institute • Coral Conservation ACTION TIMELINE + SPECIES Atlantic salmon Atlantic white marlin Black abalone Cook Inlet beluga whale Elkhorn coral Loggerhead sea turtle North Pacific right whale Sea otter Spectacled eider Staghorn coral White abalone + MEDIA Press releases Media highlights Search our newsroom Watch a presentation by the Center's Miyoko Sakashita on ocean acidification + DOCUMENTS AND PUBLICATIONS 2010 Center-coordinated letters to EPA to address acidification: From California Coastal Commission From members of Congress From nonprofit coalition April 2009 EPA notice of data availability and call for information on ocean acidification April 2009 letter by Center and allies to EPA on notice of data availability EPA response to Center petition to raise ocean water-quality standards under Clean Water Act Petition to EPA to raise ocean water-quality standards under Clean Water Act Request to North Coast Water Quality Control Board to regulate carbon dioxide pollution under Clean Water Act Request to the Washington Department of Ecology to regulate carbon dioxide pollution under Clean Water Act Contact: Miyoko Sakashita

ENDANGERED OCEANS

OCEAN ACIDIFICATION

The world’s oceans are in trouble. Every day, 22 million tons of carbon dioxide from factories, cars, power plants and other human sources are absorbed by the world’s oceans.

The result? A frightening phenomenon that's making seawater more acidic, spelling disaster for many marine animals, from plankton and coral up the food chain to sea stars, salmon, sea otters, whales — and ultimately people, who rely on oceans for food.

You can help. The Center for Biological Diversity has launched a new national Endangered Oceans campaign to save our sea life from this unprecedented threat. We’re calling on the Obama administration and the Environmental Protection Agency to produce a national action plan to tackle ocean acidification. Sign our petition today and help us avert this disaster for our oceans and sea life.

The oceans have become 30 percent more acidic because of the carbon pollution we’re pumping into the atmosphere. We’re already seeing the effects as coral reefs collapse, oyster beds disappear and tiny creatures that are important food sources get smaller and weaker.

Click here to learn how some species are already being harmed by ocean acidification . . . and how others will be soon.

Shell-forming animals like corals, crabs, oysters and urchins are getting hit first because ocean acidification robs seawater of the compounds these creatures need to build shells and skeletons, impairing their development and, ultimately, their survival. If shellfish populations collapse, the animals that eat them will also suffer, with ripple effects throughout the ocean’s food web.

Two important planetary ecosystems, coral reefs and polar regions, are on the front lines of the acidification crisis. Coral reefs critical to the protection of coastlines across tropical and subtropical parts of the world will disappear as the rate of erosion exceeds the rate at which corals can rebuild — with staggering repercussions for related ecosystems like mangrove and seagrass.

Meanwhile, in the North and South polar regions, marine plankton will be lost, some are already growing thinner and weaker shells. For example, pteropods are an important staple in the diet of salmon, mackerel, herring, cod and baleen whales.

It’s clear that this crisis may spin out of control, with devastating effects on vast numbers of species, from small shell-building oysters and reef fish to crabs, whales and sea otters.

Like global warming, the acidification of our oceans is a problem that’s vast in scale and demands a rapid and ambitious response. Even though our oceans are absorbing roughly one ton of CO2 per person on Earth each year, almost nothing has been done to curb acidification.

We’re going to be part of the solution, and we need your help. Click here to take action. The Center’s campaign to fight acidification is using the Clean Water Act to stop the pollution that’s causing it — greenhouse gas emissions — as well as to improve water-quality standards and pH monitoring. 

We also work through the Endangered Species Act for the protection of species already directly affected by acidification — for instance, elkhorn coral and staghorn coral and  82 more corals. In 2012, the Center also initiated legal action to compel the government to create a recovery plan for corals that needs to take ocean acidification into account.