Blighted

It's hard to say when it started. That's the funny thing about gradual change: you can't tell where it began or ended. It could have been when it stopped being safe to fish. Maybe it was a few years after that, when shipping by water started to become increasingly tricky.
All I know is that while the world beyond panicked and writhed in the face of the end, those of us who kept stubbornly to the shores watched as the world around us changed.
And in this time of death, one thing became abundantly clear: the world would not end with man. For even as our seas turned to acid, life found a way.
And perhaps, if we try hard enough, so can we.