December News
Mussel production threatened in the Mediterranean by climate change as early as 2050.
A study led by researcher Fabrice Pernet from IFREMER (French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea) and published in the journal Earth’s Future, projected the future temperature and acidity conditions of Mediterranean waters for 2050 and found a “total collapse” of mussel farming.
The study was conducted between 2022 and 2023, over 14 months, through observation of mussel survival in a container filled with unfiltered water from the Thau lagoon (southern France), exposing the mollusks to the salinity, oxygen, phytoplankton, viruses, and bacteria of the water.
The water was heated from (+1°C to +3°C) and enriched with CO2, conditions expected between 2050 and 2100.
Almost total mortality of the mollusks was observed.
The current reality in the Eastern Mediterranean, in mussel farms in Italy and Greece, with the near-mass death of this species, corroborates the study carried out.
In turn, oysters are more resilient, although mortality is 1.5 times higher and their size is reduced by 40%.
An alert is issued regarding the need to adopt adaptation strategies, for example, by transferring production to the open sea, with lower water temperature and acidity.
This is a small example of how climate change will affect all living beings, requiring immediate adaptation and mitigation strategies.
The speed of the transformations that are occurring is much greater than the speed of the mitigation response required from the Centers of Power and Political Decision-makers, who seem to ignore all the warnings from Science.
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Sources:
•Observador.in
•AGU Earth’s Future
@Gabriela Delgado
