Oceanic Terror

The ocean seems too big to harm. Comprising 71% of the Earth's surface, the ocean appears too vast for humans to even put a dent in, let alone significantly damage. Unfortunately, it appears increasingly evident that the ocean is indeed vulnerable to human abuses, and is increasingly on the brink of sustaining lasting degradation.

The oceans of the world are enduring abuse on two fronts. First, humans are exerting direct damage on them in the form of overfishing and pollution. The Economist points out a couple alarming results from these two actions. Because of unsustainable fishing practices, “over three-quarters of all marine fish species are below, or on the brink of falling below, sustainable levels.” Additionally, ocean waste has accumulated so much that there is now “a mass of discarded plastic that swirls round in two clots in the Pacific, each as large as the United States."

Second, humans are indirectly harming the oceans by emitting excessive amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. While most of this CO2 remains in the atmosphere, causing the Greenhouse Effect, a portion of it is absorbed into the ocean. The ocean becomes resultantly more acidic, harming such crucial organisms as krill, which serve as food for a diversity of ocean animals including whales, manta rays, whale sharks, squid, and fish. Additionally, this acidification has devastated coral reefs. Researchers have found that corals are dying at an alarmingly fast rate of 1% per year. This disappearance is coming after having “already lost half of the world’s reef-building corals." As a result, “some scientists believe that coral reefs, home to a quarter of all marine species, may virtually disappear within a few decades."  

While there are obvious physical and resource implications to harming the oceans, humans’ effect on the oceans is telling on another level. It is one thing to mow down a patch of forest. To alter the balance of something as immense as the ocean and its ecosystems demonstrates that present human activity has resulted in seemingly invulnerable natural entities now requiring urgent, coordinated protection.