ENVIRONMENT: Global warming endangers oceans, senators told

In Washington state, oysters in some areas haven’t reproduced for four years, and preliminary evidence suggests the increasing acidity of the ocean could be the cause.

In the Gulf of Mexico, shrimp disoriented by oxygen-depleted water jump into the air in what the locals call a “shrimp jubilee.”

Yet even as researchers, scientists and Jacques Cousteau’s granddaughter painted a bleak picture Tuesday of the future of oceans and the “blue economy” of the nation’s coastal states, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., had to hurry off to another meeting where senators voted to allow more offshore oil drilling.

“It’s crazy they are discussing more drilling,” said Cantwell, suggesting the real priority needs to be slowing or halting what could be irreversible damage to oceans from climate change. “It’s incredibly important, and we need to get a handle on it.”

The hearing before Cantwell’s oceans subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee was expected to focus on how the degradation of the oceans was affecting marine businesses and coastal communities.

But instead, much of the testimony focused on how the waters covering 70 percent of the plant are already changing because of global warming.