Scientists: Massive growth of Bacteria spreading in rapidly warming oceans
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Pastor Dale Morgan
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Sep 13, 2011, 10:36:01 PM9/13/11
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Perilous
Times
Scientists: Massive growth of Bacteria spreading in rapidly
warming oceans
By DON MELVIN, Associated Press
BRUSSELS — Warning: The warming of the world's oceans can cause
serious illness and may cost millions of euros (dollars) in health
care.
That is the alarm sounded in a paper released online Tuesday on
the eve of a two-day conference in Brussels.
The 200-page paper is a synthesis of the findings of more than 100
projects funded by the European Union since 1998. It was produced
by Project CLAMER, a collaboration of 17 European marine
institutes.
The paper says the rising temperature of ocean water is causing a
proliferation of the Vibrio genus of bacteria, which can cause
food poisoning, serious gastroenteritis, septicemia and cholera.
"Millions of euros in health costs may result from human
consumption of contaminated seafood, ingestion of waterborne
pathogens, and, to a lesser degree, though direct occupational or
recreational exposure to marine disease," says the paper.
"Climatic conditions are playing an increasingly important role in
the transmission of these diseases."
The paper also describes a host of other effects of ocean warming,
both documented and forecast, including melting ice, rising sea
levels, coastal erosion, increased storm intensity and frequency,
along with chemical changes in the sea itself, including
acidification and deoxygenation.
"What was striking to me was the enormous pile of evidence that
things are already happening," Katja Philippart, a marine
scientist at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research who
was involved in putting the study together, told The Associated
Press. "There is so much happening already. We are just in the
midst of it."
It is not only the range of changes that has scientists concerned,
but the speed of them.
"The biggest surprise to me is the fact that things are changing
in the ocean much more rapidly than we thought was possible," said
Carlo Heip, who is director of the same institute in the
Netherlands.
In just a few decades, he said, the fish population of the North
Sea has changed significantly, with larger species moving toward
the arctic and smaller ones taking their place.
He said the concentration of Vibrio genus of bacteria has been
observed since the 1960s. "When the temperature in the North Sea
began to increase at the end of the 80s, the Vibrios began to
increase. One of those Vibrios is the cholera species."
In the Baltic region in 2006, far more people got gastroenteritis
than usual, Heip said. But he acknowledged that is anecdotal
evidence only, and the extent of the danger is unclear.
Philippart said some of the effects could even themselves
contribute to global warming.
The greater acidification of the ocean might mean that algae would
be able to capture less carbon dioxide, she said. "Then there will
be a further increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, leading
to greater warming."
Project CLAMER is holding a conference in Brussels on Wednesday
and Thursday.