How is this affecting the seafood we eat?

"We humans love our shellfish: We love our oysters, we love our lobsters...the shellfish industry is very, very important to the overall economy of the United States — all of the fisherman, all of the restaurants…we spend about $32 billion (£23 billion) a year on fish and shellfish each year.

"[But] fish eat shellfish, too. Half of the fish that live in our oceans eat shellfish, and so do animals like seals, walruses, otters, and birds. It’s part of the food chain. How we impact the lower-end of the food chain has a significant impact on the rest of our ecosystem."

So, should I be eating seafood and shellfish?

"I think that it’s much more important for you to be aware of the problems and to be vocal about the problems, to convey the problems to as many people as we can — particularly our leaders. I wouldn’t say pull back from eating seafood yet. I wouldn’t say that we know the answers to these impacts yet. We need to get a better understanding about what the overall impacts of ocean acidification are and how to combat them. We have to be cautious and encourage our leaders to support more research on this issue."

Is there hope for the future?

"I am very hopeful, because as we’ve seen from the Paris agreements, we are taking this seriously and we are working on reducing CO2 emissions. Our decisions right now are very important. We have not seen major impacts from ocean acidification on our oceans yet. How much we work towards reducing CO2 emissions will have a direct impact on the level of ocean acidification.

"We need to make these decisions right now. We need to pay attention right now, and we need to get the word out and make an impact right now."

Ed. note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.