We have a (HUGE) Problem.....
Published 23:00 on 1 Jun 2019
Actually, it's not us that have the problem. We have certainly helped to create it, and now we are leaving it to future generations to clean the mess up, if they can. If they are unable to, then the future for them does not look very promising.
As the 15 year old Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg told the United Nations assembly on climate change recently: 'I don't want you to feel hopeful. I want you to panic! I want you to feel the fear I feel everyday, and then I want you to act.'
For those of us who rely upon the sea for our living, whether it be working on deep sea vessels or coastal shipping, fishing boats, charter boats, or just sailing on private yachts, it has become increasingly apparent, whether you believe in climate change or not, that the environment is suffering.
Sea temperature is rising, and the oceans are warming. This phenomena is creating at least four major problems for us. NIWA advises Tasman Seaurface temperatures were plus 1.3°C above average in January with NZ Coastal waters 0.5°C to 1.5°C above average, which was a decline from December's temperature. Not too tropical yet, but it's been a great summer for swimming which maybe helps us forget what is really happening.
Phytoplankton decline
Over the past decade there has been a major decline in phytoplankton productivity. These tiny ocean plants absorb more than 100 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each day. Apart from this major role, they also form the foundation of the mighty ocean food chain.
It's like everything else in nature that has taken millions of years to create balance and harmony, if one item becomes 'un-balanced' to a high degree, then the whole system starts to fail. The warming of the surface water, where the phytoplankton grow, means that this less dense water creates a stratification effect which suppresses a mixing with deeper water. As a result, nutrient transfer from the depths to the surface waters decline, and so does phytoplankton productivity.
Ocean acidity increase
The decreasing ability of phytoplankton to absorb CO2 leads to more being dissolved into seawater itself, which in turn becomes more acidic. Since pre-industrial times the oceans have absorbed about 30 percent of the CO2 emitted by humans. Over the past 200 years the reduction in the average pH of surface seawater has been 0.1 units, and this is expected to increase to 0.5 units by 2100. This is potentially disastrous for most common marine organisms, especially the fish we use as food. From a 2005 Ocean Acidification report, scientists advised that has been no period like this in the past 200 million years. Ocean acidification is ranked as the most serious human-based threat to New Zealand's marine habitats (Macdiarmid et al, 2012)
Sea level rising
It's not only melting glaciers that are contributing to sea level rise, but the increase in sea temperature also results in thermal expansion which adds to foreshores slowly disappearing too. Estimates for the 20th century show that global average sea level rose at a rate of about 1.7mm per year. Data collected between 1993-2003 showed a significantly higher rate of around 3mm per year, and an even higher rate is predicted through the 21st century.
More intense cyclones
Areas where sea surface temperatures are above 26.5°C are generally regarded as a spawning ground for tropical cyclones. While average sea surface temperatures like this around the New Zealand coast are very unlikely, we still suffer from the cyclones that are born in the tropics and migrate down into our higher latitudes. Chris Brandolino, NIWA Principal Scientist – Forecasting says, 'research suggests that tropical cyclone frequency appears likely to decrease with climate change, but both the intensity of these cyclones and the number of intense cyclones will likely increase.'
Pollution
Many argue that all these above events are cyclical, but it has become increasingly apparent that man is a major contributor to the ocean's problems. Our huge output of CO2 into the atmosphere pales in comparison to our endless stream of man-made pollutants entering the world's most precious resource—our oceans. The question needs to be asked, "are we so totally unaware of the importance of the ocean to our very survival?"
Plastics are the most visible pollutant, at least, they start out being visible. As Sir David Attenborough's Blue Planet Team recently discovered, every single crustacean surveyed at the bottom of the six-mile deep Mariana Trench, had plastic debris in its body. This means that plastics have now entered the food chain of the oceans, ending up on our dining room tables.
Chemical pollutants now mix with all the plastics in our oceans which, as Sir David says, is 'making the world's oceans a toxic soup of industrial waste and plastic'.
Chemical pollutants have a tremendous diversity, ranging from the soaps we use to clean ourselves with, to wash the dishes, clean cars, windows, scrub decks with, effluents from farms and factories, and run-offs from farms with poisonous (to the marine environment) sprays and fertilisers, and the list goes on.
What can we do?
As with all major worldwide problems, the recipe for change starts with each of us as individuals.
Let's start with the easy stuff, like not using plastic shopping bags, minimize the used of anything made of plastic (very hard to do!) use bio-degradable cleaning liquids, and use public transport more.
When on our boats use only bio-degradable detergents, pump-out stations for discharging our black water tanks, avoid dumping anything overboard, have a spill kit on-hand when refueling. A spill kit can just be a bunch of rags and a bio-degradable spray detergent.
If you don't have a holding tank on board that you can have sucked out at a marina, consider putting 'used' toilet paper into a bag for disposal upon return to shore. We have sailed on boats in Canada that do this to help protect the pristine waters of the Inside Passage. Another toilet option is to install an Air Head composting toilet. Our friend has one on his 15m launch and it is amazing. No plumbing, no holes in the hull, no pumping and, most importantly, no smell! All for less than $2000. Check out Enviromarine (NZ)Ltd.
Next time you attach your outboard onto your dinghy for a trip to the beach consider this: a 2 stroke outboard will typically release 10-25% of its fuel (petrol/oil mix) unburned into the water (Warrington 1999). A 4 stroke outboard has a 10 fold lower emission level than a 2 stroke.(Rijkeboer et al.2004). Oars are starting to look good, as what's the rush? And it's good exercise anyway!
I'm sure many of you already do pick up any rubbish that you find on the beaches you explore. It's real easy if you take a bag ashore with you, especially as there are many small pieces of plastic such as pegs and straws to pick up. To help keep us more aware of what's happening on our beaches and the waters of the Hauraki Gulf, take photos of what you find out there and of what you are doing so we can publish them in our Newsletter. Let the GHYC become an example of what yachties can do to help improve the wonderful environmemt of the Hauraki Gulf.
Obviously there is a whole lot more that every single one of us can do to assist in making a cleaner, safer world for our grandchildren. Glenn Edney, a Kiwi diver, ocean ecologist and author, says in his book 'The Ocean is Alive', 'it's painfully obvious that 'business as usual' is leading us towards ecological catastrophe.'
First of all, knowledge is power; we have to be aware of what we are doing and what effect it has upon our environment.
Enjoy your fish and chips!
Michael Pigneguy - GHYC Committee Member
Ref: IPCC 4th Report, NIWA, Stats NZ. www.envirolink.govt.nz
Last updated 09:19 on 20 February 2024
