In 2025, US scientists poured 16,500 gallons of lye and bright pink dye into the Gulf of Maine, the first federally approved attempt to reverse the ocean’s rising acidity |
Gulf of Maine as seen from a Whale Watching boat. Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons. On an August morning in 2025, a research vessel in the Gulf of Maine released 16,500 gallons of sodium hydroxide (lye) into the ocean while a plume of bright pink dye spread across the water’s surface. To onlookers, the vivid pink…