The information coming out about our ocean ecosystems is getting worse and worse. A couple of weeks ago, an article in BBC highlighted the conditions of worldwide coral reefs, showing that changing carbon conditions were threatening the health of corals, many of which are extremely sensitive to changes in their ocean environment, including temperature and acidity. According to the article: "More carbon in the seas makes water more acidic and threatens the diversity and ability of coral reefs to grow."
Around the same time, closer to my current home, a hugely sad and disturbing piece of news about poached black corals and sea turtles in southern Philippines was also reported. "Experts believe that about 7,000 hectares of a “reef complex” were destroyed when poachers harvested 161 sea turtles and over 21,000 sea shells and black corals off the waters of Cotabato province." 7000 hectares is roughly double the size of Metro Manila - just an incredible level of destruction, by any measure. More recently, reports indicate that coral cover in the Spratly Islands (better known as the islands causing a merry band of David-sized nations to stand up against China's Goliath) are degrading dramatically. "The study noted that only one of the island’s 10 stations had good coral cover at 50.50 percent....They said Pag-asa Island’s low coral cover might be the result of the destructive fishing methods used in the vicinity, as observed by the islanders and local fishermen."
Yet this week brings the most alarming, most comprehensive, most trusthworthy, and thus, most damning alarms of all. The International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) releases their report from proceedings earlier this year to attempt to get a more holistic view of the state of the oceans, and the results have most definitely NOT been happy. According to TIME Magazine:
"...while news of the Earth's impending doom can sometimes seem exaggerated, there's one environmental disaster that never gets the coverage it really deserves: the state of the oceans. Most people know that wild fisheries are dwindling, and we might know that low-oxygen aquatic dead zones are blooming around the planet's most crowded coasts. But the oceans appear to be undergoing fundamental changes — many of them for the worse — that we can barely understand, in part because we barely understand that vast blue territory that covers 70% of the globe."
The article goes on: "According to the authors, we are "at high risk for entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history." It's not just about overfishing or marine pollution or even climate change. It's all of those destructive factors working cumulatively, and occurring much more rapidly than scientists had expected. "The findings are shocking," said Alex Rogers, the scientific director of IPSO. "We are looking at consequences for humankind that will impact in our lifetime, and worse, our children's and generations beyond that."
Having a high level scientific conference make conclusions of such drastic gloom is unusual, but their conclusions should not necessarily be surprising to anyone who has been paying attention. In fact, the three cases I highlighted above shows that our oceans are facing threats from: climate change, pollution, destructive fishing practices, and poaching and general human folly.
I've been talking about the dangers our fisheries and oceans are facing for the better part of a decade now. Most of the people who meet me are quickly introduced to one of my seemingly stranger quirks - not eating seafood. My own personal form of action-advocacy, my full-scale avoidance of anything from the sea invariably leads to questions about my reasoning and a discussion about the state of the oceans.
Faced with this new report though, my personal-scale crusade to save the oceans seems woefully inadequate, quaint even. It is clear that if there has ever been an area where there is a need for strong multi-lateral international bodies capable of not just making but implementing policy - this is it. Given our recent track record with environmental issues though, you'll forgive me for being pessimistic.
Obviously, I'm going to continue my boycott of seafood and continue with the advocacy that accompanies it. I urge everyone to do the same. While it seems inconceivable that the deep blue abyss really could be in trouble, this indeed does seem to be the case. We must all begin to take the issue seriously and do what we can. Yet with as dreary as the situation is, a simplistic boycott of seafood seems to no longer be enough. There must be more that we can do - indeed, more that we must do. But what? Suggestions please!
Around the same time, closer to my current home, a hugely sad and disturbing piece of news about poached black corals and sea turtles in southern Philippines was also reported. "Experts believe that about 7,000 hectares of a “reef complex” were destroyed when poachers harvested 161 sea turtles and over 21,000 sea shells and black corals off the waters of Cotabato province." 7000 hectares is roughly double the size of Metro Manila - just an incredible level of destruction, by any measure. More recently, reports indicate that coral cover in the Spratly Islands (better known as the islands causing a merry band of David-sized nations to stand up against China's Goliath) are degrading dramatically. "The study noted that only one of the island’s 10 stations had good coral cover at 50.50 percent....They said Pag-asa Island’s low coral cover might be the result of the destructive fishing methods used in the vicinity, as observed by the islanders and local fishermen."
Yet this week brings the most alarming, most comprehensive, most trusthworthy, and thus, most damning alarms of all. The International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) releases their report from proceedings earlier this year to attempt to get a more holistic view of the state of the oceans, and the results have most definitely NOT been happy. According to TIME Magazine:
"...while news of the Earth's impending doom can sometimes seem exaggerated, there's one environmental disaster that never gets the coverage it really deserves: the state of the oceans. Most people know that wild fisheries are dwindling, and we might know that low-oxygen aquatic dead zones are blooming around the planet's most crowded coasts. But the oceans appear to be undergoing fundamental changes — many of them for the worse — that we can barely understand, in part because we barely understand that vast blue territory that covers 70% of the globe."
The article goes on: "According to the authors, we are "at high risk for entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history." It's not just about overfishing or marine pollution or even climate change. It's all of those destructive factors working cumulatively, and occurring much more rapidly than scientists had expected. "The findings are shocking," said Alex Rogers, the scientific director of IPSO. "We are looking at consequences for humankind that will impact in our lifetime, and worse, our children's and generations beyond that."
Having a high level scientific conference make conclusions of such drastic gloom is unusual, but their conclusions should not necessarily be surprising to anyone who has been paying attention. In fact, the three cases I highlighted above shows that our oceans are facing threats from: climate change, pollution, destructive fishing practices, and poaching and general human folly.
I've been talking about the dangers our fisheries and oceans are facing for the better part of a decade now. Most of the people who meet me are quickly introduced to one of my seemingly stranger quirks - not eating seafood. My own personal form of action-advocacy, my full-scale avoidance of anything from the sea invariably leads to questions about my reasoning and a discussion about the state of the oceans.
Faced with this new report though, my personal-scale crusade to save the oceans seems woefully inadequate, quaint even. It is clear that if there has ever been an area where there is a need for strong multi-lateral international bodies capable of not just making but implementing policy - this is it. Given our recent track record with environmental issues though, you'll forgive me for being pessimistic.
Obviously, I'm going to continue my boycott of seafood and continue with the advocacy that accompanies it. I urge everyone to do the same. While it seems inconceivable that the deep blue abyss really could be in trouble, this indeed does seem to be the case. We must all begin to take the issue seriously and do what we can. Yet with as dreary as the situation is, a simplistic boycott of seafood seems to no longer be enough. There must be more that we can do - indeed, more that we must do. But what? Suggestions please!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment