Saturday, December 20, 2014

The Combined Forces of Herpes and Global Warming Are Threatening to Wipe Out the World’s Oysters

Oysters on the half shell (Credit: gori910/Shutterstock) Click to Enlarge.
An viral disease with a 100 percent mortality rate is decimating the world’s oyster populations, Bloomberg reports, threatening the $4.1 billion industry.

Climate change, needless to say, isn’t helping the situation.

Oyster herpes (no relation to human herpes), also known as Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome, has killed the shellfish across Europe, New Zealand and Australia — in one particularly brutal case, the University of Sydney’s Richard Whittington told Bloomberg, wiping out 10 million oysters in just three days.  France has been hit especially hard; its harvest now 26 percent below where it was in 2008, when the virus first appeared.

Crucially, experts say, the virus doesn’t begin to kill its victims until water temperatures reach about 61 degrees Fahrenheit or higher — global warming, in other words, could be contributing to its potency.  After all, not only is 2014 likely to be the hottest year on record, according to a recently released report from the World Meteorological Organization, but it’s also been marked by record high sea surface temperatures.  And it’s only going to get worse.

The full story of what’s killing off oysters at such an alarming rate is still something of a mystery, but herpes isn’t the only factor contributing to die-offs.  Quartz points to the increasing acidification of the oceans, yet another consequence of human carbon emissions, that’s literally dissolving the shells of oysters, scallops and other shellfish.

Due to the specific nature of Pacific Northwest wind patterns, shellfish in that area are currently facing the greatest risk:  a massive die-off there, which also occurred in 2008, caused the population to plummet.

“I think the oyster industry is kind of the canary in the mineshaft,” Dave Nisbet, an oyster farmer who saw production drop 42 percent by 2012, told Al Jazeera of acidification’s growing threat.  “I think we’re kind of the first ones, the first ones to really identify and be able to have a direct linkage to the acidification part of global warming.”

Read more at The Combined Forces of Herpes and Global Warming Are Threatening to Wipe Out the World’s Oysters

2 comments:

  1. My name is donald boykins , am here to appreciate Dr Akhigbe for using his herbal medicine to cure my Herpes virus. Is about 3 years and 6 months now I have been living with this virus and it has been a serious problem to me, I was so confused cause i have been taking several drugs to be cured but all of my effort was in vain,one morning I was browsing through the internet then I saw several testimonies about Dr. Akhigbe curing people from Herpes virus and immediately i contacted Dr. Akhigbe on his email: drrealakhigbe@gmail.com, i told him about my troubles and he told me that i must be cured, he gave me some instructions and which i rightly followed. so he prepared a herbal medicine and sent it to me which i used for 2 weeks and i was cured everything was like a dream to me and my Herpes virus was totally gone, dr .Akhigbe, God bless you and give you more power and ability for more cure.I don't know if there is any one out there suffering for herpes virus or any of these diseases..DIABETES, CANCER, HIV/AIDS, HERPES HEPATITiES A AND B DISEASES etc. why don't you contact dr.Akhigbe today and be free from your diseases because he is very good and honest Doctor and he is also called the godfather of herbalism contact him via email; drrealakhigbe@gmail.com or whatsApp him on +2348142454860

    ReplyDelete
  2. My name is donald boykins , am here to appreciate Dr Akhigbe for using his herbal medicine to cure my Herpes virus. Is about 3 years and 6 months now I have been living with this virus and it has been a serious problem to me, I was so confused cause i have been taking several drugs to be cured but all of my effort was in vain,one morning I was browsing through the internet then I saw several testimonies about Dr. Akhigbe curing people from Herpes virus and immediately i contacted Dr. Akhigbe on his email: drrealakhigbe@gmail.com, i told him about my troubles and he told me that i must be cured, he gave me some instructions and which i rightly followed. so he prepared a herbal medicine and sent it to me which i used for 2 weeks and i was cured everything was like a dream to me and my Herpes virus was totally gone, dr .Akhigbe, God bless you and give you more power and ability for more cure.I don't know if there is any one out there suffering for herpes virus or any of these diseases..DIABETES, CANCER, HIV/AIDS, HERPES HEPATITiES A AND B DISEASES etc. why don't you contact dr.Akhigbe today and be free from your diseases because he is very good and honest Doctor and he is also called the godfather of herbalism contact him via email; drrealakhigbe@gmail.com or whatsApp him on +2348142454860

    ReplyDelete