A High Five for the High Seas

The High Seas Treaty is part of the goal to protect 30 percent of Earth’s land and seas by 2030, the so-called “30x30 target.” Among other goals, the intent of the agreement is to protect whales, sharks, tuna, corals, and many more species. The treaty also establishes a framework for sharing proceeds of resources generated from biodiversity in the oceans, like genetic material from marine organisms that could be used for medicines and cosmetics among other applications.  

The U.S. and China have not yet formally ratified the treaty. The Biden administration signed it, but since Trump took office, the country has not been involved. Earlier this year, Trump signed an order allowing the federal government to issue deep-sea mining permits that many other countries said would violate an older treaty.

Even though enough countries have ratified the treaty, the methods to implement it may be harder to enact. Each nation will have to regulate its own ships and companies. There will not be an international enforcement agency.

In a new analysis, six experts—Jack Schmidt, Anne Castle, John Fleck, Eric Kuhn, Kathryn Sorensen, and Katherine Tara—released a report saying that immediate action is needed, especially if this dry year is repeated next year. They estimate that consumptive use will exceed the flow of the river by no less than 3.6 million-acre feet, and the two main reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, would absorb the bulk of that shortfall, causing them to be depleted and reduced to dangerous levels. Last winter’s snowpack was miserable, and the forecast for the coming season is for less precipitation and warmer temperatures.

However, leaders in the Upper Basin states of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Wyoming, have been unable to agree with their lower basin neighbors of California, Arizona, and Nevada on how to cut water usage along the river.  The two basins have been discussing how to allocate the shortages when the current rules expire next year. The experts who wrote the report are urging the federal government to impose cutbacks along the river, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The animosity between the Upper and Lower Basins appears to have torpedoed the Trump administration’s nomination of Ted Cooke to be the commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation charged with managing the river. Cooke had been a water manager in Arizona for more than 20 years, which was viewed as disturbing in the Upper Basin states, and would make him biased in favor of the Lower Basin, according to KUNC. 

The White House asked him to withdraw his nomination, which he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, was based on vitriol the likes of which he had never seen. He said that officials from Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico had urged members of Congress to oppose his nomination.

Not anymore. These days, the Salmon River runs orange—contaminated with toxic metals. Not because of acid mine drainage—although the water has the same ocher color—but because of climate change. According to new research from the University of California, Riverside, permafrost—the frozen Arctic soil that has locked away minerals for thousands of years—is beginning to thaw with a warming planet. As it thaws, water and oxygen creep into the exposed soil, triggering the breakdown of sulfide-rich rocks and creating sulfuric acid that leaches naturally occurring metals like iron, cadmium, and aluminum from rocks into the river, which poisons fish and damages ecosystems. 

According to a press release, the team’s analysis confirmed that thawing permafrost was unleashing geochemical reactions that oxidize sulfide-rich rocks like pyrite, generating acidity and mobilizing a wide suite of metals, including cadmium, which accumulates in fish organs and could affect animals like bears and birds that eat fish. The authors say that levels for several of the metals exceed EPA toxicity thresholds for aquatic life. Additionally, the cloudy water reduces the amount of light reaching the bottom of the river and smothers insect larvae that salmon and other fish eat.

According to the study, the Salmon River is not alone. A recent inventory in the same mountain range identified 75 streams that have recently turned orange and turbid. The authors say it’s likely happening across the Arctic. Wherever there’s the right kind of rock and thawing permafrost, the process can start. Unfortunately, co-author, Tim Lyons, said once it starts, it can’t be stopped, calling it “another irreversible shift driven by a warming planet.”

The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

But in recent decades, blooms of the free-floating brown algae are booming because of human driven nutrient pollution and increasing temperatures. That’s led to piles of the seaweed washing up on beaches from the United States and the Caribbean to Brazil, where it rots and releases hydrogen sulfide, a gas that smells like rotten eggs and can cause respiratory irritation.

It's not great for tourism, fishing, and local biodiversity—and many communities cart the stuff off to landfills. Now, researchers say that’s a waste of waste they can put to good use. First, a team from the University of São Paulo in Brazil showed that the seaweed could be incorporated into ceramic clays for use in construction to reduce the weight of concrete, making it a lighter, greener option for building materials.

Second, Yiming Xi, a graduate student from the University of Miami says sargassum could make flatscreen TVs project sharper, cleaner pictures with more vibrant colors. Xi aerosolized particles of the algae into tiny droplets and then superheated them to 800 degrees Celsius, where they form carbon dots. Carbon dots are already being used in packaging to extend the shelf life of food and are being tested in other applications—from bioimaging to energy storage. Xi says the carbon dots can provide a nontoxic alternative to conventional quantum dots currently used in flatscreen displays. 

So instead of thinking that the next wave at the beach might be carrying stinking seaweed that will ruin your holiday, it might be time to think big picture.