The recent news about illnesses related to eating raw oysters is having big impacts on our nation’s shellfish farmers. It is a prime example of how a good year can quickly take an unexpected turn in the opposite direction. Shellfish farmers around the nation confront some of the same threats that land farmers face — unfavorable weather, predators, disease and varying market conditions — any one of which can ruin the harvest for the year.

A relatively new threat to our industry — ocean acidification — has brought us to Washington to meet with our members of Congress. We will share with them our firsthand experience with acidification, which has already negatively affected growers on the West Coast, and, if not addressed, promises to get worse.

This may come as a surprise since shellfish are enjoying something of a renaissance. However, our community is concerned that our livelihoods could be in jeopardy if ocean acidification is not addressed by our nation’s lawmakers.

As most people are now aware, acidification happens when carbon emissions are absorbed by the ocean, turning it more acidic. In acidified waters it becomes harder for oysters, clams, mussels, corals and other marine animals to build their shells and skeletons. Shells become thinner and weaker or, in some cases, larvae are unable to grow at all.

While numerous recent studies have examined the effects of acidification on marine life, we still have lots of uncertainty about how this is going to turn out. When it comes to shellfish, however, we now know that acidified seawater is harmful — and it doesn’t take a Ph.D. to see that these impacts are going to get worse.