TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Caribbean to test greenhouse-gas linked ocean acidity

News Desk (Agence France-Presse)
Bridgetown, Barbados
Sun, October 14, 2018 Published on Oct. 13, 2018 Published on 2018-10-13T16:36:00+07:00

Change text size

Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone

Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Caribbean to test greenhouse-gas linked ocean acidity Fishermen and tourists gather on a beach near the town of Le Carbet of the French Caribbean island of Martinique to lift fishing nets at dawn on July 14, 2014. (AFP/Nicolas Derne)

T

ourism and fishery-dependent Caribbean nations plan to test the acidity of the Caribbean Sea as a result of increased absorption of greenhouse gases, a senior regional official said Friday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency "will assist" with the project, said Milton Haughton, Executive Director of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism.

"I am very positive that we will have things going by next year," he told AFP in Barbados where Caribbean agriculture ministers are holding their annual meeting.

Haughton said the Caribbean would also be establishing laboratories and training personnel to conduct future testing.

Scientists already believe that the increased acidity is caused by the sea's absorption of carbon emissions.

Read also: Fisheries nations to decide fate of declining bigeye tuna

"In more recent times scientists have realized that the absorption of carbon dioxide in the ocean is actually causing serious, serious problems in the ocean itself. Basically, the seawater is becoming more and more acidic and that is not good for the living marine organisms," Haughton said. 

He added that acidic and increasingly warm seas were causing coral bleaching and dissolving the carbonates that shellfish require to make their shells. 

"The fact is that for many of our countries, our fisheries are based on the health of the coral reefs," Haughton said.

Avoiding global climate chaos will require a major transformation of society and the world economy that is "unprecedented in scale," the United Nations said Monday.

It warned that the world must become "carbon neutral" by 2050 to have at least a 50/50 chance of keeping global warming below 1.5 C.

 

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.

Share options

Quickly share this news with your network—keep everyone informed with just a single click!

Change text size options

Customize your reading experience by adjusting the text size to small, medium, or large—find what’s most comfortable for you.

Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone

Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!

Continue in the app

Get the best experience—faster access, exclusive features, and a seamless way to stay updated.