Ocean health is being destroyed fast
Health of the oceans is deteriorating even faster than had previously been thought, says a report.
The world’s oceans are facing multiple threats including:
- Impacts of climate change
- Acidification
- Overfishing
- Habitat destruction
- Detrimental resource extractions
- Marine pollution
- Dead Zones
- Alien species introduction
- Loss of Fisheries
The oceans are being heated by climate change, turned less alkaline (more acidic) by absorbing ever increasing volumes of CO2, made less habitable by pollution and depopulated of marine lifeforms due to overfishing.
The size of dead zones are increasing globally due to fertilizer run-off.
‘Biggest Threat’
“The biggest threat to our Ocean’s health is climate change, with its twin super-dangers of rising sea temperatures and acidification,” says a review released by the International Program on the State of the Ocean (IPSO).
Ocean’s Health
This affects everyone, because—just like the climate—the Ocean forms one of the key operating systems of our planet. It creates more than half our oxygen, drives weather systems and modulates the atmosphere, as well as providing us with vital resources. So the Ocean functions at a fundamental ‘Earth System’ level, transcending national borders to help maintain life everywhere on Earth.
‘Extinction Risk’
“The Ocean has already absorbed more than 80% of the heat added to the climate system and around 33% of the carbon dioxide emitted by humans. Ecosystems are collapsing as species are pushed to extinction and natural habitats are destroyed,” said IPSO.
There are growing concerns based on recent research that past extinctions had involved warming seas, acidification and low oxygen levels. All of which are on the rise today, the IPSO co-coordinator, Prof Alex Rogers, told BBC News.
We are taking about 80-90 million metric tons of fish from the Ocean each year (9,000-10,000 tons every hour), he said. “The fishing methods used – as well as the sheer scale of the plunder – are having devastating effects on both the fish targeted and virtually all other marine creatures, from seabirds to coral.”
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