Terry Sawyer Tessa Hill

@hogislandoyster @Tessa_M_Hill
History of Hog Island Oyster Co.
As shelled animals
grow – oysters,
mussels, corals, snails
- they use CALCIUM
and CARBONATE to
make their shells:

Olympia oyster
Photo: A. Hettinger

High pH (low CO2) Low pH and CO2

A few views on what the future holds…

Depth of low pH (<7.75) water in 2007 Predicted depth of low pH water in 2050
along the CC System Hauri and Gruber 2013
Feely et al 2008
Our vulnerability to ocean acidification =
oceanography + economics

Ekstrom et al, 2015

Why is ocean acidification important to people?
How do we work together to approach such a
complex problem?
● Integrated Lab and
Field Investigations
At Bodega Marine Lab, for the past decade we have
focused on impacts on key west coast species

●Oysters (5x)
●Mussels (6x)
●Urchins (2x)
●Limpets
●Porcelain Crabs
●Barnacles
●Bryozoans
●Red Abalone (3x)
●Intertidal snails
●Foraminifera
●White Abalone
 Olympia Oyster
Juvenile Olympia oyster

• Larvae from high-CO2

treatments: 14%
decrease in shell growth

• Juveniles from high-CO2

treatments: 36%
decrease in shell growth
regardless of if in
ambient or high-CO2
conditions as juveniles
0.2 mm

Hettinger et al., 2012

 California Mussel

Mussel shells raised under high

CO2 are smaller & weaker –
break more easily

Photos at Bodega Marine

Lab by L. Sommer, KQED

Gaylord et al.
2011
 Tiny shells:
Base of the food web for salmon & whales

Reduced calcification Shell dissolution under Slower growth

& rebuilding of shell high CO2; already under high CO2
under high CO2 considered an indicator (Cooper et al.,
(Davis et al., 2018) of change in California 2016)
waters (Bednarsek et
al., 2014)
Dungeness Crab:
Consequences are still being
investigated, but crabs do
appear negatively impacted,
especially at young stages.

Miller et al., 2016

What will the future hold?
There will be winners & losers
Partnership: Hog Island Oyster Co. & UC Davis

Deployed sensors Fall 2012

● Temperature
● Salinity
● pH
● Dissolved oxygen
● CO2 (added 2014)
www. cencoos.org
http://www.ipacoa.org/Explorer
Partnership: Hog Island Oyster Co. & UC Davis
Partnership incorporates shared:
● Sensors

● Maintenance tasks

● Data access

● Research ideas

● Commitment to communicating

science of OA
Novel partnerships can maximize our
understanding of impacts

http://www.ipacoa.org/Explorer
 This is a time for
problem solving & action
Broodstock Program Partners
● University of Oregon
● University of Washington
● University of Maryland
In partnership with:
● University of California Davis
● University of Washington
● IOOS
● CENCOOS
● NOAA
● CA Ocean Protection Council
Gooseneck Barnacles

Gracilaria Seaweed
 Sea Urchin (Served Raw) Gracilaria Seaweed Rock Scallops

Gooseneck Barnacles Urchin Soup (cooked)

Photo courtesy of Jeremy Koreski via depatures.com

Coastal carbon “sinks”
• Seagrass meadows and salt
marshes provide an
opportunity to remove carbon

• We are investigating the long

and short term impacts of
carbon storage
‘Mosaic’ of pH elucidated by partnerships between
Federal Agency & University Researchers

We observe large variability in pH

within this dynamic, diverse
system

Regions of significant stress

already – what will the future
hold?

Data from: NOAA (R. Feely), NSF-OMEGAS and UCDavis;

Feely et al., 2016; Hill et al. in prep.
Geography matters - where and how ocean
acidification occurs will impact our future

New research looks at this from a

combined oceanography-ecology-
social science perspective
 THANK YOU!
Tessa Hill - tmhill@ucdavis.edu
Terry Sawyer - terry@hogislandoysters.com

Questions?