Much more than fish and ships....

There are alarming signs that the management systems that we have are insufficient to guarantee the integrity of the several natural systems that provide basic ecological services to humanity and the sustainability of living marine resources. Many of the uses than man makes of the ocean are having secondary effects that are affecting the stability of natural processes in the ocean. Destruction of critical habitats along the coast is alarming, as human populations encroach onto the coastal zone. Destruction of deep ocean habitats is significant due to the secondary effect of fish trawling. Destruction of corals, due to bad practices in the collection of fish for aquaria is still going on in several regions of the world. Massive accumulation of plastic in the central gyres of the Pacific Ocean are only recently being detected and studied. The increasing frequency and abundance of dead-zones due to the exhaustion of oxygen by the arrival of massive quantities of chemicals used by, or originating in, agriculture and animal husbandry and transported by rivers into the ocean.

Through photosynthesis by microscopic plants in the surface layer of the ocean, carbon dioxide is drawn from the atmosphere and oxygen is released. The exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide (and other gases) has a profound effect on the earth's climate. Absorbing millions of tons of CO2 every year – roughly one third of total annual emissions -- the ocean has already spared us from catastrophic climate change. But in doing so, its own intrinsic balances are being altered: it is becoming more acidic and has taken the largest fraction of the additional heat generated by climate change, something that might eventually alter the normal patterns of ocean circulation that are so essential for keeping CO2 out of contact from the atmosphere.

We have an incomplete and piecemeal picture of what is happening to the ocean and there is an urgent need to change this and adopt corrective policies at the highest level possible. Too much is at stake to follow the path of least resistance. Powerful political leadership is needed.