Oceans in Peril

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90% of large fish, like tuna, swordfish and shark, have been removed from the ocean. Scientists predict that if we continue fishing as we are now, we will see the end of most seafood by 2048. Learn more.
"One of every six jobs in the United States is marine-related and over one-third of the U.S. Gross National Product originates in coastal areas. The ocean is key to transportation, recreation and its resources may hold the cures to many diseases." ~NOAA
Throughout Earth's history, there have been five major extinction events, the last of which killed all the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. We are now in the midst of the sixth mass extinction, the first caused by a single species: humans. In the heart of this rapid succession of decline, the oceans will be affected most intensely, losing as much as five times more species than lost on land. From the tiny plankton responsible for half of all the oxygen we breathe, to the beautiful coral reefs protecting our shorelines, to the singing humpback whales, to the seafood we love, immense swaths of the ocean's creatures are being threatened by rapid and non-discriminating forces. As The Nature Conservancy puts it, "Oceans may seem vast and endless, but human activity is impacting every part of our waters and putting the health of the oceans in jeopardy. For oceans to keep sustaining us, we must find a way to sustain them." An incredible 80% of all the life on Earth lives beneath the waves as this vital, vast blue world pulses around the planet driving the natural forces which sustain life on Earth. Ocean acidification, coral bleaching, pollution, habitat loss, destructive fishing practices, overfishing and climate change are all contributing to this catastrophic loss of life and ecosystem services that will change the oceans as we know them, forever.
"Business as usual means that in 50 years, there may be no coral reefs and no commercial fishing because the fish will simply be gone. Imagine the ocean without fish, imagine what that means for our life support system."  ~Sylvia Earle
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Out of Sight, Out of Mind... This is the best phrase to explain how the planets oceans have reached a tipping point becoming so dangerously threatened on so many fronts, yet so few of us have any idea the danger they are in. Of course, this comes at no surprise since we are after all terrestrial creatures living on land, not in the sea. When we use the word "environment," it's usually in reference to forests, lakes, mountains and rivers - not the oceans. It's time to shed light on the extraordinary crisis the Earth's oceans are facing and how it connects to our lives today, our children's tomorrow, the beautiful sea life from the deep abyss to the magical, but disappearing coral reefs and to the Earth as a whole. Image Credit: NOAA/Wikipedia Commons

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Ocean Acidification

Our current acidification rates are unparalleled in Earth's history and will lead most ecosystems into unknown territory. The acidity of the planets oceans have risen by 30% since the industrial revolution by absorbing 530 billion tons of CO2, and the current rate of ocean acidification is at least a hundred times faster than any time in the last few hundred thousand years and is most likely unprecedented in the Earth’s history.

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Overfishing

According to the End of the Line Documentary, "90% of large predatory fish such as tuna, swordfish, sharks, are now gone. 90% of large whales and 60% of the small ones are also now gone from estuaries and coastal waters. 100 million sharks are killed every year. A study done by the Dalhousie University of Canada projects that by 2048 all the species that we fish today extinct."

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Sea Level Rise

Global sea levels rose about 17 centimeters (6.7 inches) in the last century. The rate in the last decade, however, is nearly double that of the last century and NASA scientists are predicting it could be as much as several meters sea level rise this century, if global warming is not addressed.

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Fish Farming

Aquaculture is currently the world's fastest growing food production sector, growing at nearly 10% a year, which is 3 times faster than land-based animal agriculture, with upwards of 50% of all seafood consumed worldwide being farmed.

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Coral Reefs

Coral Reefs are disappearing four times faster than the rainforest. Due mainly to warming temperatures, acidifying oceans and pollution, close to 30% of the ocean’s reefs have already vanished since 1980, including half of the reefs in the Caribbean, and scientists forecast that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef may be dead by the year 2050, tropical corals could be gone by the middle to the end of this century, cold-water corals will be severely stressed by 2040 with two-thirds of them in a corrosive environment by the century’s end, 70% of the world's coral reefs will be destroyed by the year 2050 and all coral reefs could be gone by the end of the century.

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Plastic Pollution

Plastic constitutes 90% of all trash floating in the world's oceans with some areas having a ratio of 6-to-1 plastic to plankton by weight in 1999 and 46-to-1 plastic to plankton ratio in 2008. The world produces 300 billion pounds of plastic each year. 10% of this plastic ends up in the oceans where 70% eventually sinks damaging habitats on the ocean floor. The rest floats or remains suspended just below the ocean surface forming these massive garbage patches, or washing up on a distant shore.

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Jellyfish Takeover?

All over the Earth, fish populations and ocean ecosystems may be facing a new threat of massive blooms of jellyfish taking over the oceans.
National Geographic: Why the Ocean Matters
"Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, more than 75% of the world's fish populations are exploited to the limit or overfished. As a global commodity, degradation of global fish stocks has severe repercussions well beyond environmental concerns. The world’s economy is tied to the integrity and health of the marine and coastal ecosystems and to the sustainability of the seafood industry. Global fisheries are a vital source of consumption – more than 3.5 billion people depend on the ocean for their primary source of protein. More than a third of the world’s population live within 100 kilometers of the ocean and derive their economic support from endeavors related to global coastlines." ~Earth Share, Saving the Oceans with Sustainable Fisheries
Ocean Crisis Fast Facts
Courtesy of Oceana: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do To Save Them
  • Over the course of its lifetime, one oil rig dumps 90,000 tons of toxic materials into the seawater.
  • Sea surface temperature rise 1% annually. That may not sound like a lot but its been enough to wreak havoc by causing disruptions in the natural system of seawater circulation in various regions all over the world.
  • Ten species of fish account for more than ¼ of all commercial fishery production. Nine of these ten species are on the verge of collapse, meaning the catches have dropped below 10% of the highest catch on record.
  • Since 1988, the commercial fishing industry’s overall catch has declined by more than ½ million tons per year, even though its equipment has become better, faster and more efficient in finding and catching fish.
  • Catches in nearly 1/3 of the world’s fisheries have collapsed to less than 10% of their peak levels.
  • In the 1950s, it was routine for New Englanders to haul in lobsters weighing 20 pounds. The world record is a 44 pounder. Today it’s hard to find a 5 pounder.
  • 6 out of 8 stores tested were found to be selling salmon that was said to be wild but was actually farmed.
  • Where did 9 out of every 10 sharks that inhabited the world’s oceans in 1950 go? Well, their fins sell for $300/pound and $60-$400 a bowl. Shark fins have become on a price-per-pound basis, the most valuable thing you can take from a living creature in the ocean. After their fins are cut they are thrown back into the ocean to slowly and painfully die.
  • In 2000, the world’s fisheries burned 13 billion gallons of fuel to catch 80 million tons of fish.
  • Since 1988, commercial fishing’s catch has declined by 500 thousand tons per year.
  • Since the industrial revolution, the oceans have absorbed 500 billion metric tons of CO2.
  • Since 1960, there has been a 90% drop in the numbers of 25 of the ocean’s largest predators.
  • In 2009, 50% of all seafood consumed worldwide was farmed
  • For every 1 pound of shrimp caught, 10 pounds of marine life is thrown away.
  • In the U.S., for every 3.72 million tons of landings, 1.06 million tons are discarded.
  • In the world, for every 56.7 million tons of landings, atleast 38.5 tons are discarded.
  • Ocean acidity has risen 30% since the industrial revolution.
  • 90% of the largest fish in the sea, the apex predators, have vanished since the 1980s.
  • In the 1950s, the average blue shark weighed an average of 114 pounds. By the 1990’s that average fell down to 48 pounds.
  • For every 2.25 tons of fish caught, 1 ton of cold-water coral is pulled from the trawlers nets.
  • Illegal fishing accounts for 13-31% of the worldwide annual catch. 
  • The swordfish of 1960 weighed an average of 266 pounds. Today they weigh 90 pounds.
  • The average weight of a bluefin tuna caught today in the Sea of Japan is half of what it was 25 years ago.
  • 70% of the remaining cod population has been lost to by-catch.
  • If we don’t change our fishing habits, seafood populations could be wiped out by the end of this century.
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