Mindful Monday: Warmer Ocean Water in Maine is not Something to be Excited About.

This article published this past November talks about the Gulf of Maine warming more rapidly than almost any other ocean region on earth.  This is starting to have massive effects on the ecosystem, and yes, the economy.  When the large fishing industry is starting to show concern, is it time to listen?

This has been news from the Bangor Daily News to the  Austrian Tribune, clearly people are concerned.

Here are some highlights (or Lowlights) that we all should be aware of:

• Gulf of Maine is heating up faster than 99% of the worlds oceans...

• Ocean is becoming fresher.  Most likely because of the melting of the ice caps in Labrador Sea

• Ocean is becoming more Acidic because of the high levels of atmospheric CO2 levels.

• The Natives are decreasing.  Cod and Shrimp are in short supply.  As we all are familiar with the   food chain, ( if you are not, please feel free to join us on our 4th grade field trip! ) once one thing decreases, others increase or decrease based on it.  The oceans temperatures are almost inhospitable for Cod at this point. 

• There are more bacterial outbreaks. 

• Southern Invaders:  (not including my father and husband) Longfin Squid normally in the southern gulf, or Trigger Fish from North Carolina and South Carolina, to Black Sea Bass an aggressive fish coming from the area between the Gulf of Mexico to Cape Cod.

• The Green Crab Crisis resulting in lower amounts of seagrass meadows and soft shelled clams)  While the Green Crab, an invasive from Europe has been here for 100 years, the recent rising temperatures has caused a population explosion.

So while the idea of swimming in your new speedo in June in Maine might be appealing to some, we do need to consider the effects on the rest of Maine's inhabitants... We don't know what all of this might mean, and the articles offer some thoughts.  What we do know, is the Gulf of Maine is gaining some serious looksee's from scientists.

When historically the ocean temperature rose 1 degree in 100 years, and from 2011-2012 it rose 1.5 degrees... and the past 4 years has risen 2-3.5 degrees, it may deserve our attention.  So much of Maine's economy and culture depend on the beautiful Gulf of Maine, not to mention all the other Maine natives that share this landscape with us.   So Mindful Monday asks us to keep our eyes open when it comes to our Oceans, they have so much more to do with this world than to swim in and look at. 

Look, learn, love, and change.