Fresh seafood on sale in the Chijin District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. 1-1-2005. This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons. User: Changlc

The examples illustrated here
highlight the potential for
substantial revenue declines, loss
of employment and livelihoods,
and indirect economic costs that
may occur if ocean acidification
damages marine habitats, alters
marine resource availability, and
disrupts other ecosystem services.
The current estimates of economic
impacts are largely restricted to
commercially marketed ecosystem
services such as fisheries and
tourism. A full assessment must
take into account ecosystem services
beyond those that are directly
market-based, such as cultural
services, regulating services (such
as coastal protection) and a broader
set of provisioning services (such as
marine-derived pharmaceuticals).

To a large extent, societies
that are highly vulnerable to
ocean acidification are located
in developing countries or small
island states. Their inhabitants
rely on fish and other marine
resources as their primary
source of protein. In addition,
indigenous peoples and cultures
in the Arctic – where the ocean
is acidifying more rapidly than
in other locations – are also
dependent on natural resources,
and therefore these societies
are potentially vulnerable.

[This text is from the Ocean Acidification Summary for Policy Makers, 2013, and is available online as a PDF with full references.]