Ocean acidification is the result of increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and is a growing threat to our oceans. Organisms living in calcium carbonate homes, such as corals and shellfish are among the most vulnerable. Tracking ocean acidification is complex and requires more information than simply sampling ocean pH. The Hakai Institute's Quadra Island field station in British Columbia houses one of the world’s most innovative systems to measure OA, the Burke-o-lator “This is a really exciting piece of equipment. It’s the first of its kind in Canada,” says chemical oceanographer and OA Steering Committee member Wiley Evans. The inventor of the Burke-o-Lator, Oregon State University professor Burke Hales is a pioneer in the field of ocean carbon cycles. The photo above was taken when Hales traveled to Hakai’s Quadra Island Field Station in 2016 to help install his namesake machine, part of a growing network of ocean acidification monitoring sites within Canada. The Burke-o-Lator can measure multiple parameters of ocean acidification simultaneously making it a revolutionary monitoring tool. The Burke-o-Lator can measure ocean pH, how much carbon dioxide gas is dissolved in the seawater, the total amount of carbon from non-organic sources as well as the concentration of the mineral aragonite which is critical to shell formation for many marine species . All these factors may affect shellfish growth, survival and reproduction - but many traditional monitoring systems are only able to measure one parameter. “The really exciting thing is that we can now monitor all of these ocean conditions in real time,” says Evans. On the east coast, a Burke-o-Lator machine collects Ocean Acidification data in the Passamaquoddy Bay at the St. Andrews Biological Station in New Brunswick. Real-time data from the Canadian east-coast and west-coast Burke-o-Lators may be found at https://www.oceanacidification.ca/resources-1 This article was adapted from an article by Josh Silberg of the Hakai Institute by Heather Almeda. 2018. FOR MORE ON THIS, PLEASE SEE: https://www.hakai.org/blog/life-at-hakai/meet-burke-o-lator https://www.thecordovatimes.com/2018/02/21/amhs-vessel-helps-track-ocean-acidity/

According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the northern shrimp population in the Gulf of St. Lawrence has dropped by 50 per cent in the past 10 years, with commercial fishermen catching roughly 30 per cent fewer shrimp between 2015 and 2016. "It's almost at the point where you wonder whether it's worth going out," says shrimp fisherman, Sylvain Bujold. In his 20 years experience his boat is now catching nearly half of their expected yield - a significant drop for one of Eastern Canada's three most valuable fisheries. Piero Calosi, a member of the Ocean Acidification CoP Steering Committee and a biology professor at Université du Québec à Rimouski said the recent drop in northern shrimp stocks is an anomaly that could last several years. However, he added it could also be indicative of a future trend. "We have a very important signal of what could happen to the fisheries of shrimp and other fisheries in 50 years or 60 years," said Calosi. While the exact cause of the shrimp stocks decline may be complex, the warming temperatures of the Gulf of St. Lawrence have been identified as a potential problem for the cold-water northern shrimp found in the northwest Atlantic. Another factor is an increasing number of redfish, commonly referred to as the ocean perch, a species which prefers warmer water temperatures. Redfish compete with juvenile shrimp for food while also feeding on adult shrimp. Ocean acidification may also be a contributing factor - with a lower pH and reduced aragonite saturation in ocean waters shrimp experience greater difficulty producing their hard outer shells. With multiple stressors affecting the shrimp population, it is not easy to predict what will happen and several scenarios need to be studied, Calosi said. This will include considering whether the shrimp fishery may eventually end. In September 2018, Calosi and a team of researchers from the university started a three- to four-year project on the global viability of the North-Atlantic shrimp fishery. The project will consider the economic and social impacts that changes to the fish stocks could have on the communities that depend on them. In 2014 alone the shrimp fishery brought in $489 million for the Canadian economy. This article was adapted from CBC News by Heather Almeda. 2018. FOR MORE ON THIS, PLEASE SEE: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/sept-isles-matane-gaspe-quebec-fisheries-and-oceans-1.4214075 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/shrimp-science-katherine-skanes-1.3689210

The non-profit Arctic Research Foundation, a private organization that collaborates with scientists and Inuit communities, has created mobile labs from discarded shipping containers. Equipped with solar panels and wind turbines, they are able to generate more than enough electricity and can be moved easily from one research site to another. This gives scientists access to more information than is available from stationary facilities, and provides the opportunity to power extra equipment such as an observatory, a weather station, other communications equipment - or even an entire camp. University of Calgary geographer, and Ocean Acidification Community of Practice co-Lead Brent Else, has packed one lab with equipment that measures how the ocean absorbs greenhouse gases, an important factor in understanding how the Arctic responds to and influences climate change. “Flexibility is key,” says Adrian Schimnowski, the Arctic Research Foundation’s CEO and operations manager. “We can easily adapt these labs to a wide variety of science projects: geology, archaeology, biology or even marine research.” The labs are intended to provide direct service to the community as well as long term data to researchers. The labs can act as weather stations to provide better information on wind conditions and temperature along travel routes, can serve as caches of emergency supplies for stranded travelers, and can also be used to improve communications in remote areas. “We are guests on Inuit land,” says Schimnowski, “and Inuit know how to live off the land better than anyone else. We receive support from the community in many different ways, and so out of respect we provide support to the community. It’s a way of saying thank you.” This article was adapted from Canadian Geographic by Heather Almeda. 2018. FOR MORE ON THIS, PLEASE SEE: https://www.canadiangeographic.ca/article/how-mobile-labs-are-changing-arctic-science https://www.arcticfocus.org/stories/how-mobile-labs-are-changing-arctic-science/