Why Oceans Matter...

 

What do you think of when looking at the ocean? Water? Well, it is not only water, it’s alive. Oceans give us more than half of the oxygen we breathe, regulate the climate and give us protein, energy and minerals, IT’S our life support system. 

            The oceans cover 72% of the planet and 80% of all the life on Earth is found beyond the beach.  We are harming the oceans in such a scale that isn’t even imaginable to most people. All human activity has serious impacts on the forces of the planet but nobody sees the consequences that we have on the oceans. The oceans right now are way far from their natural being.

            The Greenpeace Defending our Oceans campaigns is setting out to protect and preserve our oceans now and for the future. The campaign exposes the countless pressures, reveals the threats and points to the solutions and measures to create healthy oceans. They address many threats such like:





'Cod and other fish are caught in a net in the Gulf of Maine'


1. Industrial Fishing: huge ships using the latest technology of equipment have exceeded the ocean’s ecological limits. As the larger fish are killed, the smaller and more extinct fish species are targeted. 
2. ByCatch: every year, fishing nets kill up to 300,000 whales and dolphins. Not only do they destroy the inhabitants but also the habitats. We need to know the limits of what we can take out of the sea.   
3.  Unfair fisheries: as the number of fish has decreased in the fish, the fishing capacity is increasing in the areas of Africa and the Pacific. Pirates ignore regulations and steal fish from the poorest regions of the world that are much based on this fish supply. 
4.  Global Warming: of course, global warming and climate change will have a huge affect on the oceans. Scientists say that by increasing sea water temperatures, will raise sea levels and change ocean currents. Fish can simply not survive in the changed conditions.  
5. Pollution: The most visible pollution is of course, oil pollution. But there are other sources such like domestic sewage, industrial discharges, explosions, pesticides and many more. 

'An open-air garbage dump tarnishes the sapphire coast of Barrow, Alaska'

            One of the biggest solutions that Greenpeace has stated is the establishment of the large-scale networks of marine reserves, hugely needed to protect marine special, its habitats, reversing the decline of global fisheries and just protecting our oceans. Marine reserves are areas that are closed to human activities including fishing and any disposal activities and act as scientific areas and have sensitive and extinct habitats and special.

            Even though the oceans cover 72% of the planet but only less than 1% of ocean is protected. We have lost about 90% of the big fish in the sea, and seen a decrease of 20% of coral reefs. It is time to make a change. Healthy oceans are a vital natural resource. We have the ability to create positive change. We need to start defending our oceans because without them, their wont be life on Earth. 

Word Count: 493 

References:

<http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/>

<http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/marine-reserves/>

<http://na.oceana.org/>

<http://www.nrdc.org/water/oceans/policy.asp>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqVBk_RZMII&feature=related>
<http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/photos/oceans-overfishing>
<http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/photos/ocean-pollution/>

Blogs commented on:

Mary's Bio BLog
<http://marysbioblog.blogspot.com/>, top right corner!

Kim's Bio Blog
<http://kimm-allison.blogspot.com/>, at the bottom!