Ocean issues

Our love for the ocean is huge. But the current threats that oceans face are, unfortunately, even bigger. Ocean health is important for humanity: the Earth is approximately 70% water, making it the most important source of life on the planet. And yet, we still don’t know that much about these waters. We need to take care of our oceans so that we can learn more about how our planet functions and, even more importantly, keep it alive!

The biggest threats to our oceans today:

1.

Climate change

Oceans are warming up and the sea level is rising. Coral ecosystems are becoming bleached and will soon die. This is especially threatening because corals are the natural protection of coastal areas in case of storms and tsunamis. Besides that, corals are also ‘hot-spots’ for marine biodiversity.

2.

Pollution

Chemicals, plastics, oil spills, acidification… all of these can be listed among the massive pollution contributors, and all of these constitute a critical threat to oceans. Each type of pollution has a different cause, but they are all man-made. Marine life is in danger and it is through human’s actions.

3.

Overfishing the fish stocks

Any marine life that is not heavily affected by pollution is being overfished. One third of the global fish population is subject to overfishing. Disturbed balance in the existing marine ecosystem is a direct result of this. Several fish species are facing extinction.

All of these threats are causing a decrease in biodiversity that will disrupt the entire food chain. If we continue as we are, we will all end up with nothing on our plates.

“If the oceans die, we die.” – Paul Watson