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• HEAT WAVE KILLED MARINE WILDLIFE MASSE CRACKED

The researchers found that many shellfish were victims of a “perfect storm” of factors that contributed to widespread death: The lowest low tides of the year occurred during the year’s hottest days - and at the warmest times of day. Now, a team led by the University of Washington has compiled and analyzed hundreds of these field observations to produce the first comprehensive report of the impacts of the 2021 heat wave on shellfish. The observers quickly realized they were living through an unprecedented event and they organized to document the shellfish die-offs as they happened in real time. Temperatures in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia soared to well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with Seattle setting an all-time heat record of 108 degrees on June 28.ĭuring the heat wave, also called a heat dome, scientists and community members alike noticed a disturbing uptick of dying and dead shellfish on some beaches in Washington and British Columbia, both in the Salish Sea and along the outer coast. It’s hard to forget the excruciating heat that blanketed the Pacific Northwest in late June 2021. We really can't emphasize enough how dire the situation is becoming for vulnerable species around the world, even and especially for humans living in or near the equator.Dead oysters seen along a shoreline in Washington state, following a record heat wave in summer 2021. "Eventually, we just won't be able to sustain these populations of filter feeders on the shoreline to be anywhere near the extent that we're used to," said Harley in the report. And, if or when it does, it will disrupt the food chain between the plankton that clams and mussels eat, and the larger animals that (in turn) feed on them. Populations of marine animals in the area of Vancouver and Seattle will likely bounce back in one to two years, but this won't stop yet another future heat wave from wiping them out once more. Unfortunately, these mass death events are becoming data points in the ever-strengthening case for climate change, and how a warming climate has tragic consequences on local ecosystems around the world. And, we are saddened to report that this has happened before, during the Australian bushfires of 20, when roughly 3 billion animals died or lost their livelihood. "If you're losing a few hundred or a few thousand mussels for every major shoreline, that quickly scales up to a very, very large number," he explained in the report. Harley estimates that at least 1 billion died, according to some quick napkin math he did on the beach. And on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, during the heat wave, it just got so hot that the mussels, there was nothing they could do." As of writing, Harley and his students are gathering evidence to identify how many marine creatures died amid the recent heat wave in the Salish Sea, which is an inland body of water comprising the waters near Seattle and Vancouver.Ĭlimate change radically damages local ecosystems "They are stuck there until the parent comes back, or in this case, the tide comes back in, and there's very little they can do. "A mussel on the shore in some ways is like a toddler left in a car on a hot day," said Harley in the CBC report. Once the tide receded, marine creatures like clams and mussels then broiled alive in the world-historical temperatures for more than six hours. The June heatwave saw temperatures soar to 104✯ (40✬) in Vancouver, during which Harley's lab noted temperatures of 122✯ (50✬) throughout the shoreline via a thermal imaging camera.

Vancouver's unusually hot weather combined with an unfortunate coincidence of tides left crustaceans in the region in a tough spot (on the beach, in the blistering sunlight).

HEAT WAVE KILLED MARINE WILDLIFE MASSE CRACKED

While walking along Vancouver's Kitsilano Beach in late June, Harley said he was "pretty stunned", and could smell the maddening stench of death from the horizon-stretching volume of mussels cracked open, revealing the meat contained within, which is what happens when they die. Crustaceans trapped on the beach sunlight broil alive and die