Our oceans offer some of the most beautiful sceneries we have on the planet and are home to several thousands of species of marine life, and it is imperative that we protect them. By just taking a little more time and consideration into keeping our oceans clean, we can help save animals, ourselves and the planet. Most of the things that are having the biggest impact on our oceans are down to us humans, so there is definitely something we can all do. The most major threats are listed below:
-Ignorance: Our oceans are so deep and vast that exploring all they have to offer is tricky. Currently, studies suggest that not even 1% of the oceans floor has been mapped to a level sufficient enough to be of any real use. Getting to the bottom of the ocean is a necessity for our survival. Information from ocean exploration can reveal new sources of food, medicine, energy sources and more.
-Climate Change: The effects of climate change are detrimental to our oceans in a big way. Just a slight rise in temperature can cause plant and marine life to die as well as triggering hurricanes and massive storms.
-Untreated Garbage: Trash, waste, and other chemicals are dumped into our oceans daily. This is causing contamination and is creating dead zones in our oceans where it is no longer for plants and animals to survive.
-Oil Spills: These are tragic events that luckily don’t happen too often, but when they do they certainly have an impact. Oil spills can stretch across thousands of miles killing plant and animals and contaminating the water for us humans.
-Air Pollution: Coral and other plant life are feeling the effects of air pollution as the damaging particles make their way to them from places like coal-burning power plants. These particles can make it difficult for sunlight to get through to the coral, stunting its growth, and eventually killing it. Acid rain also falls under this category, and it too threatens the life of marine animals, which in effect, harms us also.
-Plastic: This is a really big killer of our oceans, marine life, and wildlife. Several million tons of plastic are dumped into our seas every year threatening species into endangerment.
-Unsustainable Fishing: We currently do not have the right balance of the fishery to provide food for ourselves and maintaining the level of marine life. Two-thirds of the large fish in the ocean have been caught, and with the numbers diminishing due to all the other environmental issues, there will soon be none left, and we will be the ones who will suffer.
-Lack Of Protection: Hardly any of our oceans are protected. If we were to introduce more protected areas then maybe we would have a better chance of survival.
-Tourism and Development: As humans, we are our worst enemies. New housing, holiday resorts, commercial developments and more are also damaging the ocean as we destroy the coastline to make way for the people.
-Shipping: Although it may be a more cost effective way of transporting goods than many, shipping also adds to the damage we are doing to the ocean. Oil spills and the dumping of waste is common and threatens marine life daily.
With all of these things making a significant impact on the health of our ocean, it is time to take notice and act now. We could all do a little bit to help. Even if it just remembering to recycle your plastics, any little thing you could do to try and save our oceans would be greatly appreciated by all and you can have peace of mind in that you have just helped saving the lives of thousands of marine life and essentially ours, as humans as well.
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