Acidic Oceans Collapse Fisheries

"By the 2050s, the entire ocean could be sufficiently acidic to trigger a calamitous decline... Coral reefs, the most diverse of all marine ecosystems, are particularly vulnerable... the rising acidity will make it harder for them to repair their calcium carbonate skeletons. In an era of warmer air and stronger storms, reefs could well be ripped apart. Some predict that 90 per cent of the coral reefs on earth will be destroyed in the space of a few years... The open ocean is also vulnerable to acidification. Many species in the plankton at the base of the food chain also have calcium carbonate shells. The increasingly acidic oceans would inhibit their ability to bloom and flourish. Fish populations all the way up the chain would suffer as a result. Oyster and mussel harvest would start to fail. The 2050s could prove to be the beginning of the end for the remaining commercial fisheries and fish farming. The livelihoods of more than half a billion people would be directly affected, and a ready source of protein that has fed us for our entire history would start to disappear from our diets."