{"id":11575,"date":"2020-02-07t17:18:40","date_gmt":"2020-02-07t17:18:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dpetrov.2create.studio\/planet\/wordpress\/the-baltic-bid-for-a-bivalve-savior\/"},"modified":"2023-03-17t18:49:02","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17t18:49:02","slug":"baltic-bid-bivalve-savior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/baltic-bid-bivalve-savior\/","title":{"rendered":"the baltic bid for a bivalve savior"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
the baltic sea is choking, and so are many of the creatures that depend on it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
oxygen levels of the baltic are so depleted that fish and plant species can\u2019t survive in its waters, making it one of the most polluted seas in the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n manure and fertilizers from its coastal countries account for large amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus in baltic waters. this induces over-enriched seawater to grow excessive amounts of algae, forming \u201calgal blooms.\u201d as the algae dies and sinks to the seafloor, bacteria use up oxygen as they decompose the material, causing \u201cdead zones\u201d \u2013 oxygen-depleted areas, in which fish and plant populations are decimated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n the baltic\u2019s waters are among many<\/a> gasping for oxygen as a result of this process called \u201ceutrophication.\u201d over the atlantic, u.s. scientists are grappling with similarly-polluted waterways in the chesapeake bay, gulf of mexico and the great lakes. earlier this month, marylanders reported<\/a> \u201ccloudy, streaky-looking water,\u201d alerting algal blooms in six maryland rivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cit\u2019s very deadly, it\u2019s very dangerous,\u201d dr. tara scully, biology professor and head of an oyster research lab at george washington university, said. \u201cit causes fish kills, fish just start washing up on shore because this process has occurred.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n as with many environmental issues, there\u2019s no single culprit, but european countries surrounding the sea are acknowledging responsibility by experimenting with natural water filters and trying to cut down on harmful sea inputs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n the baltic blue growth<\/a> (bbg) projec<\/a>t, which ended in 2019, connected a network of research facilities<\/a> in estonia, poland, sweden, latvia and denmark who have been trialing blue mussel farms to fight algal blooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n blue mussels are filter feeders, meaning they take up nutrients in their environment and naturally clean the waters. once harvested, the nutrients they contain are recycled for food production or fish and poultry feed, which in turn benefits farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n jonne kotta, director of estonia marine institute and bbg partner, said that although countries surrounding the baltic sea have lowered their nutrient runoff<\/a> by 15 to 30 percent since 1995, it is considered that nearly the entire baltic sea was still being affected by eutrophication as late as 2007-2011. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cthe amount of nutrients stored in the baltic sea ecosystem are so huge that even if all land based activities which cause eutrophication in the baltic stopped tomorrow, it would still take generations for the baltic to recover to an acceptable state,\u201d kotta explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n environmental policy is starting to show that reducing nutrient inputs hasn\u2019t changed the already nutrient-excessive waters. this is an especially salient concern for a body of water with such limited water exchange \u2013 water exchange with the north sea takes about 30 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cwhile land-based pollution control measures can and will continue to make an important contribution to solving the baltic sea eutrophication problem, it is a mistake to think they are enough to solve the problem,\u201d kotta said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n dr. scully studies another bivalve \u2013 the eastern oyster \u2013 as a solution to the chesapeake\u2019s nutrient pollution and algal blooms. the chesapeake oyster alliance, a coalition of organizations aiming to restore the health of the bay, even launched an initiative to add 10 billion oysters to the bay by 2025 to combat algal blooms eutrophication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n the bivalves\u2019 kryptonite <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n but nils hedberg, marine ecotoxicologist at stockholm university, believes bivalves are not necessarily the answer for baltic-like environments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n although he said the blue mussel clean-up method is attractive because it\u2019s pitched as a low-cost solution with potential to stimulate new farming markets, hedberg co-authored a report<\/a> highlighting the limitations of relying heavily on bivalves to clean the baltic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n it\u2019s unclear if the baltic\u2019s waters can support the large-scale farms that would be required to make a significant difference to the baltic\u2019s nutrient content. examples from the united states, new zealand, sweden, and the netherlands have shown that bivalve cultivation alters the ecosystem in a negative way and can even increase nutrient levels in affected waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cthe risks will increase with the scale and intensity of the farm, and it is very likely that we need quite large farms to compensate for the slow growth and the high production costs,\u201d he explained. \u201csmall farms will not cause any significant problems but will probably not solve any either.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n there is still very little research about the environmental impact of large mussel farms. in theory, hedberg explained mussels will eat most of the plankton in large farming areas, which makes it harder for fish to thrive there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n he is instead a proponent of external methods which aim to decrease nutrients by changing land conditions so less nutrients reach the sea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n