Tide Pools in California are DEAD!

I used to walk the railroad tracks when I was a kid, turning over every rock and log that I could find. Evey thing I turned over had something different living under it, from rodents and bugs to lizards snakes and salamanders.. Now when I go home and take my child to do the same, we're lucky to find anything at all. Some species such as horned toads were rare back then but I'd find one from time to time.. Now they are completely gone from most areas. It's the same thing..

Dont kid yourself though. These places are just as much a part of us as our very own bodies, when they go we go. We can't survive in a dead world and anyone who doesn't see what's happening is purposefully ignoring it and just slowing the rest of us down from being able to do something about it.. It makes me sick when I hear people argue that it's only natural..

a reply to: Rezlooper

your fair share

I HATE that phrase.

While we are at it I have some pet projects that you need to help fund...

What a load of crap.

Well there are parts of the U.K. Coastline I've been visiting with family for over 30yrs and I've noticed massive deductions in sealife in rock pools here also

You could catch as much as 50-100 crab a day and see hundreds of other familes or kids catching buckets full also... daily

Now you're lucky if you spot ONE and catch it all week on a 30 mile stretch of coastline

Rarely spot any fish in them anymore except for small tiny things

I just think it's down to over fishing the waters

I have a few ideas that could contribute. Fukushima radiation, for one. Then under-ocean volcanic activity changing the PH might also have an effect. What should be done is samples taken to try to determine the cause of death. Apparently from the video, there are deaths of both plant and animals (he said the rocks weren't slippery - with moss - and there used to be 1000's of starfish). They should do isotopic spectroscopic analysis of all the samples to determine if it was:

Radioactive isotope analysis of the life that still may exist in certain areas of the dead zone, along with the sediment.
PH Level, vs historic PH level in similar areas - To determine if under-ocean volcano vents are making things more acidic.
They should examine it for all metals that could be toxic, as well as check for algae blooms that can cause acid to form.
They should also specifically check for environmental toxins like chemicals, and probably specifically check for pesticides including banned ones (that they were talking about trying to get re-approved for use on FOOD! Agent Orange!) like DDT. DDT will kill plant and animal life.

If it is something like the PH, it may be possible to alter the PH in one way or another, but ultimately it would likely not work because there are still the under-ocean vents that spew sulfur into the ocean. If it is algae blooms, then someone should invent a machine to harvest the algae and turn it into biofuel or something like that!

If it is radiation related, someone should invent something that amalgamates all of the radioactive isotopes like mercury amalgamates with gold. Otherwise I have no idea how they would clean it up.

a reply to: Rezlooper


Essentially it's the same around the coasts of all big cities. The toxic crap we are using inevitably ends up getting flushed down the drain and ends up in the sea, its most concentrated around major cities outfalls. One of the worst offenders is meat/milk production , which uses as much water to produce and service as humans use. Signs of androgyny in the marine population is increasing, as it is in the human population because of the oestrogen run off. Align that with the toxic medicine which is excreted from increasing numbers of sick folk, and that's 90% of the problem. The seas cant take it.

a reply to: Rezlooper

The oceans are dying. The bees are dying. The world is dying. Our days are numbered.

I can't watch the vid right now but wanted to comment that the pH level has been rising in the oceans steadily due to high Co2 absorption. bad
Is it possible to somehow recapture Co2 and convert it?

Eta, just noticed Infrinitee beat me t it.

a reply to: ezramullins

The oceans temp has not risen in any detrimental amount since we started keeping track.

False.

If you want something more current, go here.
www.nodc.noaa.gov...

a reply to: Rezlooper

Could this specific location be more susceptible to the dangers of radiation/chemicals/artificial influence of mankind versus other spots?

I understand the coastlines along the Pacific are in much worse shape due to the Fukushima mess - I have been visiting Cape Cod (Massachusetts on the East Coast, Atlantic Coastline) every summer for awhile now and the tidepools there seem to be thriving, but I also didn't grow up on the coast and am not a marine biologist.

Could the radiation from Fukushima pollute the Atlantic as well to a dangerous degree?

I also know radiation is especially of concern because it lasts for thousands of years, but Chernobyl seems to be thriving years after that tragedy.

a reply to: InFriNiTee

Then under-ocean volcanic activity changing the PH might also have an effect.

Has undersea volcanic activity increased? We know that atmospheric CO2 levels have. And guess what increased dissolved CO2 does to PH levels?
www.pmel.noaa.gov...

I don't think it's any more complicated than too many people. California is still increasing in populations isn't it? Same thing happens to resort lakes here in the Midwest when too many vacation homes are built around them. Fish and frogs alike, all die off.

a reply to: FamCore

I understand the coastlines along the Pacific are in much worse shape due to the Fukushima mess

What data leads to you that understanding? Here are two independent (and very rigorous) sources to consider.
www.ourradioactiveocean.org...
kelpwatch.berkeley.edu...

All this doom its time for a contrarian report we are getting the orange/black,blue/black and yellow butterflies back not just moths,not many but a few ladybirds and honeybees are back and I saw for the first time in ten years a green frog the other day so they are either amenable to the climate change or getting used to cell towers etc

a reply to: Phage

I follow NPR from time to time and specifically remembered seeing this

Recently, I [Ken Buesseler, Dr. Ken Buesseler is a marine radiochemist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and director of the WHOI Center for Marine and Environmental Radioactivity] have begun to see a much more serious threat to U.S. waters. With our nearly 100 reactors, many on the coast or near inland waterways that drain to the ocean, you might expect a federal agency to be responsible for supporting research to improve our understanding of how radioactive contamination originating from one of these sites would affect our marine resources. Instead, the response we receive from an alphabet-soup of federal agencies is that such work “is in the national interest,” but ultimately “not our job.” As a result, we have turned to crowd funding to help us build data along the West Coast to address immediate public concerns and to keep a watchful eye out to sea.

Perhaps not specifically from Fukushima, but this would suggest that the West Coast is particularly vulnerable to radioactive contaminants as opposed to US-Atlantic Ocean coastal areas

originally posted by: Rezlooper

originally posted by: TruMcCarthy
Yep, change in climate has caused mass extinctions throughout the aeons. Humans are going to have to learn to adapt to the changing climate. Hopefully adapting doesn't meaning taxing the pants off the hard working middle class, and stuffing the pockets of the well connected "green" profiteers and politicians.

So long as you don't have to pay your fair share... so long to the oceans. Without life in the oceans, how long do you think life elsewhere can sustain?

Never mind that most environmentalists and conservationists struggle to make a living wage and many rely on government run programs to save the natural resources that you care about so deeply.

Would you pay for a tax to protect the environment? No?

Would you personally support the work of conservationists around the world to continue this important work?

No?

Then maybe I wouldn't start whining about dependency on government programs. Not everyone chooses to work in destructive industries, and those of us that don't are often living close to or under the poverty line, while ineffective, large, bureaucratic nonprofits bring in the dough.

a reply to: FamCore

Not sure if you know it but Buessler is the lead scientist here (linked in my previous post):
www.ourradioactiveocean.org...

Their research has found nothing which would indicate the level of impact implied by the video in the OP.

a reply to: Phage

So from your assessment and what these experts are saying, you feel there is no need to sound the alarms for "large-scale marine die offs" in the near future? This is more a knee-jerk reaction and we need to sit and wait for more data before we become really worried?

a reply to: TritonTaranis

Gee - hundreds of family's picking buckets of crabs every day for years, then oops, the numbers of crabs are decreased. Could there be a connections? I wonder!

a reply to: FamCore

So from your assessment and what these experts are saying, you feel there is no need to sound the alarms for "large-scale marine die offs" in the near future?

"Large-scale marine die offs" should be of concern. However, to attribute them to Fukushima (or any other radiation source) without evidence does not help in any manner.

a reply to: Phage

There is also no evidence connecting ocean life die offs to climate change.

As for pH - well there is an international standard for measuring pH of salt water but there wasn't before. We have no idea if the difference in pH from 8.2 to 8.1 or 8.0 or if its a measurement error. And then considering taking a sample of the vast ocean, we really have no idea what the pH is supposed to be or how much it varies from location to location. That plus the fact that the ocean is basically lined with limestone, I doubt pH is the answer either.

Maybe localized die-offs are just natures way of saying "your time's up, bring on the new: