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Carbon dioxide spewed by human activities has made ocean water so acidic that
it is eating away at the shells and skeletons of starfish, coral, clams and
other sea creatures, scientists said on Thursday.
Marine researchers knew that ocean acidification, as it's called, was occurring
in deep water far from land. What they called "truly astonishing" was the
appearance of this damaging phenomenon on the Pacific North American continental
shelf, stretching from Mexico to Canada.
"This means that ocean acidification may be seriously impacting our marine life
on our continental shelf right now, today," said Richard Feely of the Pacific
Marine Environmental Laboratory, part of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
Other continental shelf regions around the world are likely to face the same
fate, he said.
Plenty of natural activities, including human breath, send the ...