Cockles, nuns and other shellfish are dying en masse in the Wadden area. Due to the continuous heat, the quality of the seawater decreases.
The sea is acidifying and therefore contains less oxygen, which makes it difficult or even impossible for many animals to survive. “This climate change is the most drastic thing I’ve experienced in my life as a biologist.”
For several days now, reports of dead cockles and other shellfish have been received from various parts of the Wadden Sea.
At Griend mainly young cockles were found. On Ameland it turned out to be older cockles. The beach in De Cocksdorp on Texel is also littered with them. The Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) is investigating the mass mortality of shellfish.
Heat and low water
Low tide at the hottest time of the day is the cause of the fatal accident, according to Arthur Oosterbaan, biologist and curator at Ecomare. “In those very hot days, it was probably low tide at the hottest time of the day. Those animals can’t stand that, so they all die.”
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It is not the first time that the mudflats are strewn with dead shellfish. In 2018 and 2019 the same happened by the warm weather. A tragic phenomenon that we will have to get used to due to climate change, according to Oosterbaan.
Every time the seawater rises by one degree, an average of 5 percent of all marine life disappears. And the tide cannot be turned dozens of scientists from different countries warned as early as 2015. “Species will disappear, entire natural areas will be completely different. All we can do is deal with it well and eventually learn to live with this drastic climate change.”
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