When climate change started killing the Pacific Northwest’s oysters by the millions, scientists and growers taught the world how to safeguard an ecosystem.
Ocean acidification impacts all invertebrates in Pacific Northwest waters. About one-third of the organisms living in Puget Sound, the estuary surrounding the Seattle metro area, build shells as oysters do. The shells of pteropods — tiny translucent sea snails that flit through the water on little fins and are a key food for salmon — are dissolving. Phytoplankton and abalone are struggling.
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