sea life essay

All About the Ocean

The ocean covers 70 percent of Earth's surface.

Biology, Earth Science, Oceanography, Geography, Physical Geography

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This article is also available in Spanish .

The ocean covers 70 percent of Earth 's surface. It contains about 1.35 billion cubic kilometers (324 million cubic miles) of water, which is about 97 percent of all the water on Earth. The ocean makes all life on Earth possible, and makes the planet appear blue when viewed from space. Earth is the only planet in our solar system that is definitely known to contain liquid water. Although the ocean is one continuous body of water, oceanographers have divided it into five principal areas: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Southern Oceans. The Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans merge into icy waters around Antarctica. Climate The ocean plays a vital role in climate and weather . The sun’s heat causes water to evaporate , adding moisture to the air. The oceans provide most of this evaporated water. The water vapor condenses to form clouds, which release their moisture as rain or other kinds of precipitation . All life on Earth depends on this process, called the water cycle . The atmosphere receives much of its heat from the ocean. As the sun warms the water, the ocean transfers heat to the atmosphere. In turn, the atmosphere distributes the heat around the globe. Because water absorbs and loses heat more slowly than land masses, the ocean helps balance global temperatures by absorbing heat in the summer and releasing it in the winter. Without the ocean to help regulate global temperatures, Earth’s climate would be bitterly cold. Ocean Formation After Earth began to form about 4.6 billion years ago, it gradually separated into layers of lighter and heavier rock. The lighter rock rose and formed Earth’s crust . The heavier rock sank and formed Earth’s core and mantle . The ocean’s water came from rocks inside the newly forming Earth. As the molten rocks cooled, they released water vapor and other gases. Eventually, the water vapor condensed and covered the crust with a primitive ocean. Today, hot gases from the Earth’s interior continue to produce new water at the bottom of the ocean. Ocean Floor Scientists began mapping the ocean floor in the 1920s. They used instruments called echo sounders , which measure water depths using sound waves . Echo sounders use sonar technology. Sonar is an acronym for SOund Navigation And Ranging. The sonar showed that the ocean floor has dramatic physical features, including huge mountains, deep canyons , steep cliffs , and wide plains . The ocean’s crust is a thin layer of volcanic rock called basalt . The ocean floor is divided into several different areas. The first is the continental shelf , the nearly flat, underwater extension of a continent. Continental shelves vary in width. They are usually wide along low-lying land, and narrow along mountainous coasts. A shelf is covered in sediment from the nearby continent. Some of the sediment is deposited by rivers and trapped by features such as natural dams. Most sediment comes from the last glacial period , or Ice Age, when the oceans receded and exposed the continental shelf. This sediment is called relict sediment . At the outer edge of the continental shelf, the land drops off sharply in what is called the continental slope . The slope descends almost to the bottom of the ocean. Then it tapers off into a gentler slope known as the continental rise. The continental rise descends to the deep ocean floor, which is called the abyssal plain . Abyssal plains are broad, flat areas that lie at depths of about 4,000 to 6,000 meters (13,123 to 19,680 feet). Abyssal plains cover 30 percent of the ocean floor and are the flattest feature on Earth. They are covered by fine-grained sediment like clay and silt. Pelagic sediments, the remains of small ocean organisms, also drift down from upper layers of the ocean. Scattered across abyssal plains are abyssal hills and underwater volcanic peaks called seamounts. Rising from the abyssal plains in each major ocean is a huge chain of mostly undersea mountains. Called the mid-ocean ridge , the chain circles Earth, stretching more than 64,000 kilometers (40,000 miles). Much of the mid-ocean ridge is split by a deep central rift, or crack. Mid-ocean ridges mark the boundaries between tectonic plates . Molten rock from Earth’s interior wells up from the rift, building new seafloor in a process called seafloor spreading . A major portion of the ridge runs down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and is known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It was not directly seen or explored until 1973. Some areas of the ocean floor have deep, narrow depressions called ocean trenches . They are the deepest parts of the ocean. The deepest spot of all is the Challenger Deep , which lies in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean near the island of Guam. Its true depth is not known, but the most accurate measurements put the Challenger Deep at 11,000 meters (36,198 feet) below the ocean’s surface—that’s more than 2,000 meters (6,000 feet) taller than Mount Everest, Earth’s highest point. The pressure in the Challenger Deep is about eight tons per square inch.

Ocean Life Zones From the shoreline to the deepest seafloor, the ocean teems with life. The hundreds of thousands of marine species range from microscopic algae to the largest creature to have ever lived on Earth, the blue whale. The ocean has five major life zones, each with organisms uniquely adapted to their specific marine ecosystem . The epipelagic zone (1) is the sunlit upper layer of the ocean. It reaches from the surface to about 200 meters (660 feet) deep. The epipelagic zone is also known as the photic or euphotic zone, and can exist in lakes as well as the ocean. The sunlight in the epipelagic zone allows photosynthesis to occur. Photosynthesis is the process by which some organisms convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into energy and oxygen . In the ocean, photosynthesis takes place in plants and algae. Plants such as seagrass are similar to land plants—they have roots, stems, and leaves. Algae is a type of aquatic organism that can photosynthesize sunlight. Large algae such as kelp are called seaweed . Phytoplankton also live in the epipelagic zone. Phytoplankton are microscopic organisms that include plants, algae, and bacteria. They are only visible when billions of them form algal blooms , and appear as green or blue splotches in the ocean. Phytoplankton are a basis of the ocean food web . Through photosynthesis, phytoplankton are responsible for almost half the oxygen released into Earth’s atmosphere. Animals such as krill (a type of shrimp), fish, and microscopic organisms called zooplankton all eat phytoplankton. In turn, these animals are eaten by whales, bigger fish, ocean birds, and human beings. The next zone down, stretching to about 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) deep, is the mesopelagic zone (2). This zone is also known as the twilight zone because the light there is very dim. The lack of sunlight means there are no plants in the mesopelagic zone, but large fish and whales dive there to hunt prey . Fish in this zone are small and luminous . One of the most common is the lanternfish, which has organs along its side that produce light. Sometimes, animals from the mesopelagic zone (such as sperm whales ( Physeter macrocephalus ) and squid) dive into the bathypelagic zone (3), which reaches to about 4,000 meters (13,100 feet) deep. The bathypelagic zone is also known as the midnight zone because no light reaches it. Animals that live in the bathypelagic zone are small, but they often have huge mouths, sharp teeth, and expandable stomachs that let them eat any food that comes along. Most of this food comes from the remains of plants and animals drifting down from upper pelagic zones. Many bathypelagic animals do not have eyes because they are unneeded in the dark. Because the pressure is so great and it is so difficult to find nutrients , fish in the bathypelagic zone move slowly and have strong gills to extract oxygen from the water. The water at the bottom of the ocean, the abyssopelagic zone (4), is very salty and cold (2 degrees Celsius, or 35 degrees Fahrenheit). At depths up to 6,000 meters (19,700 feet), the pressure is very strong—11,000 pounds per square inch. This makes it impossible for most animals to live. Animals in this zone have bizarre adaptations to cope with their ecosystem. Many fish have jaws that look unhinged. The jaws allow them to drag their open mouth along the seafloor to find food, such as mussels, shrimp, and microscopic organisms. Many of the animals in this zone, including squid and fish, are bioluminescent. Bioluminescent organisms produce light through chemical reactions in their bodies. A type of angler fish, for example, has a glowing growth extending in front of its huge, toothy mouth. When smaller fish are attracted to the light, the angler fish simply snaps its jaws to eat its prey. The deepest ocean zone, found in trenches and canyons, is called the hadalpelagic zone (5). Few organisms live here. They include tiny isopods , a type of crustacean related to crabs and shrimp. Invertebrates such as sponges and sea cucumbers thrive in the abyssopelagic and hadalpelagic zones. Like many sea stars and jellyfish, these animals are almost entirely dependent on falling parts of dead or decaying plants and animals, called marine detritus . Not all bottom dwellers, however, depend on marine detritus. In 1977, oceanographers discovered a community of creatures on the ocean floor that feed on bacteria around openings called hydrothermal vents. These vents discharge superheated water enriched with minerals from Earth’s interior. The minerals nourish unique bacteria, which in turn nourish creatures such as crabs, clams, and tube worms. Ocean Currents Currents are streams of water running through a larger body of water. Oceans, rivers, and streams have currents. The ocean’s salinity and temperature and the coast’s geographic features determine an ocean current’s behavior. Earth’s rotation and wind also influence ocean currents. Currents flowing near the surface transport heat from the tropics to the poles and move cooler water back toward the Equator . This keeps the ocean from becoming extremely hot or cold. Deep, cold currents transport oxygen to organisms throughout the ocean. They also carry rich supplies of nutrients that all living things need. The nutrients come from plankton and the remains of other organisms that drift down and decay on the ocean floor. Along some coasts, winds and currents produce a phenomenon called upwelling . As winds push surface water away from shore, deep currents of cold water rise to take its place. This upwelling of deep water brings up nutrients that nourish new growth of plankton, providing food for fish. Ocean food chains constantly recycle food and energy this way.

Some ocean currents are enormous and extremely powerful. One of the most powerful is the Gulf Stream , a warm surface current that originates in the tropical Caribbean Sea and flows northeast along the eastern coast of the United States. The Gulf Stream measures up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) wide and is more than a kilometer (3,281 feet) deep. Like other ocean currents, the Gulf Stream plays a major role in climate. As the current travels north, it transfers moisture from its warm tropical waters to the air above. Westerly, or prevailing, winds carry the warm, moist air to the British Isles and to Scandinavia , causing them to have milder winters than they otherwise would experience at their northern latitudes . Northern parts of Norway are near the Arctic Circle but remain ice-free for most of the year because of the Gulf Stream. The weather pattern known as El Niño includes a change to the Humboldt Current (also called the Peru Current) off the western coast of South America. In El Niño conditions, a current of warm surface water travels east along the Equator and prevents the normal upwelling of the cold, nutrient-rich Humboldt Current. El Niño, which can devastate the fisheries of Peru and Ecuador, occurs every two to seven years, usually in December. The paths of ocean currents are partially determined by Earth’s rotation. This is known as the Coriolis effect . It causes large systems, such as winds and ocean currents that would normally move in a straight line, to veer to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere . People and the Ocean For thousands of years, people have depended on the ocean as a source of food and as a route for trade and exploration . Today, people continue to travel on the ocean and rely on the resources it contains. Nations continue to negotiate how to determine the extent of their territory beyond the coast. The United Nations’ Law of the Sea treaty established exclusive economic zones (EEZs), extending 200 nautical miles (230 miles) beyond a nation’s coastline. Even though some countries have not signed or ratified the treaty (including the U.S.), it is regarded as standard. Russia has proposed extending its EEZ beyond 200 nautical miles because two mid-ocean ridges, the Lomonosov and Medeleev Ridges, are extensions of the continental shelf belonging to Russia. This territory includes the North Pole. Russian explorers in a submersible vehicle planted a metal Russian flag on the disputed territory in 2007. Through the centuries, people have sailed the ocean on trade routes . Today, ships still carry most of the world’s freight , particularly bulky goods such as machinery, grain, and oil . Ocean ports are areas of commerce and culture. Water and land transportation meet there, and so do people of different professions: businesspeople who import and export goods and services; dockworkers who load and unload cargo ; and ships’ crews. Ports also have a high concentration of migrants and immigrants with a wide variety of ethnicities, nationalities, languages, and religions. Important ports in the U.S. are New York/ New Jersey and New Orleans. The busiest ports around the world include the Port of Shanghai in China and the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Ocean ports are also important for a nation’s armed forces. Some ports are used exclusively for military purposes, although most share space with commercial businesses. “The sun never sets on the British Empire” is a phrase used to explain the scope of the empire of Great Britain , mostly in the 19th century. Although based on the small European island nation of Great Britain, British military sea power extended its empire from Africa to the Americas, Asia, and Australia. Scientists and other experts hope the ocean will be used more widely as a source of renewable energy . Some countries have already harnessed the energy of ocean waves, temperature, currents, or tides to power turbines and generate electricity. One source of renewable energy are generators that are powered by tidal streams or ocean currents. They convert the movement of currents into energy. Ocean current generators have not been developed on a large scale, but are working in some places in Ireland and Norway. Some conservationists criticize the impact the large constructions have on the marine environment. Another source of renewable energy is ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC). It uses the difference in temperature between the warm, surface water and cold, deep water to run an engine. OTEC facilities exist in places with significant differences in ocean depth: Japan, India and the U.S. state of Hawai'i, for instance. An emerging source of renewable energy is salinity gradient power , also known as osmotic power. It is an energy source that uses the power of freshwater entering into saltwater. This technology is still being developed, but it has potential in delta areas where fresh river water is constantly interacting with the ocean. Fishing Fishers catch more than 90 million tons of seafood each year, including more than 100 species of fish and shellfish . Millions of people, from professional fishers to business owners like restaurant owners and boat builders, depend on fisheries for their livelihood . Fishing can be classified in two ways. In subsistence fishing, fishers use their catch to help meet the nutritional needs of their families or communities. In commercial fishing , fishers sell their catch for money, goods or services. Popular subsistence and commercial fish are tuna, cod, and shrimp. Ocean fishing is also a popular recreational sport. Sport fishing can be competitive or noncompetitive. In sport fishing tournaments, individuals or teams compete for prizes based on the size of a particular species caught in a specific time period. Both competitive and noncompetitive sport fishers need licenses to fish, and may or may not keep the caught fish. Increasingly, sport fishers practice catch-and-release fishing, where a fish is caught, measured, weighed, and often recorded on film before being released back to the ocean. Popular game fish (fish caught for sport) are tuna and marlin. Whaling is a type of fishing that involves the harvesting of whales and dolphins. It has declined in popularity since the 19th century but is still a way of life for many cultures, such as those in Scandinavia, Japan, Canada, and the Caribbean. The ocean offers a wealth of fishing and whaling resources, but these resources are threatened. People have harvested so much fish and marine life for food and other products that some species have disappeared. During the 1800s and early 1900s, whalers killed thousands of whales for whale oil (wax made from boiled blubber ) and ivory (whales’ teeth). Some species, including the blue whale ( Balaenoptera musculus ) and the right whale, were hunted nearly to extinction . Many species are still endangered today. In the 1960s and 1970s, catches of important food fish, such as herring in the North Sea and anchovies in the Pacific, began to drop off dramatically. Governments took notice of overfishing —harvesting more fish than the ecosystem can replenish . Fishers were forced to go farther out to sea to find fish, putting them at risk. (Deep-sea fishing is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.) Now, they use advanced equipment, such as electronic fish finders and large gill nets or trawling nets, to catch more fish. This means there are far fewer fish to reproduce and replenish the supply. In 1992, the collapse, or disappearance, of cod in Canada’s Newfoundland Grand Banks put 40,000 fishers out of work. A ban was placed on cod fishing, and to this day, neither the cod nor the fisheries have recovered. To catch the dwindling numbers of fish, most fishers use trawl nets. They drag the nets along the seabed and across acres of ocean. These nets accidentally catch many small, young fish and mammals. Animals caught in fishing nets meant for other species are called bycatch . The fishing industry and fisheries management agencies argue about how to address the problem of bycatch and overfishing. Those involved in the fishing industry do not want to lose their jobs, while conservationists want to maintain healthy levels of fish in the ocean. A number of consumers are choosing to purchase sustainable seafood . Sustainable seafood is harvested from sources (either wild or farmed) that do not deplete the natural ecosystem. Mining and Drilling Many minerals come from the ocean. Sea salt is a mineral that has been used as a flavoring and preservative since ancient times. Sea salt has many additional minerals, such as calcium, that ordinary table salt lacks. Hydrothermal vents often form seafloor massive sulfide (SMS) deposits , which contain precious metals. These SMS deposits sit on the ocean floor, sometimes in the deep ocean and sometimes closer to the surface. New techniques are being developed to mine the seafloor for valuable minerals such as copper, lead, nickel, gold, and silver. Mining companies employ thousands of people and provide goods and services for millions more. Critics of undersea mining maintain that it disrupts the local ecology . Organisms—corals, shrimp, mussels—that live on the seabed have their habitat disturbed, upsetting the food chain. In addition, destruction of habitat threatens the viability of species that have a narrow niche . Maui’s dolphin ( Cephalorhynchus hectori maui ), for instance, is a critically endangered species native to the waters of New Zealand’s North Island. The numbers of Maui’s dolphin are already reduced because of bycatch. Seabed mining threatens its habitat, putting it at further risk of extinction. Oil is one of the most valuable resources taken from the ocean today. Offshore oil rigs pump petroleum from wells drilled into the continental shelf. About one-quarter of all oil and natural gas supplies now comes from offshore oil deposits around the world. Offshore drilling requires complex engineering . An oil platform can be constructed directly onto the ocean floor, or it can “float” above an anchor. Depending on how far out on the continental shelf an oil platform is located, workers may have to be flown in. Underwater, or subsea, facilities are complicated groups of drilling equipment connected to each other and a single oil rig. Subsea production often requires remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs). Some countries invest in offshore drilling for profit and to prevent reliance on oil from other regions. The Gulf of Mexico near the U.S. states of Texas and Louisiana is heavily drilled. Several European countries, including the United Kingdom, Denmark, and the Netherlands, drill in the North Sea. Offshore drilling is a complicated and expensive program, however. There are a limited number of companies that have the knowledge and resources to work with local governments to set up offshore oil rigs. Most of these companies are based in Europe and North America, although they do business all over the world. Some governments have banned offshore oil drilling. They cite safety and environmental concerns. There have been several accidents where the platform itself has exploded, at the cost of many lives. Offshore drilling also poses threats to the ocean ecosystem. Spills and leaks from oil rigs and oil tankers that transport the material seriously harm marine mammals and birds. Oil coats feathers, impairing birds’ ability to maintain their body temperature and remain buoyant in the water. The fur of otters and seals are also coated, and oil entering the digestive tract of animals may damage their organs. Offshore oil rigs also release metal cuttings, minute amounts of oil, and drilling fluid into the ocean every day. Drilling fluid is the liquid used with machinery to drill holes deep in the planet. This liquid can contain pollutants such as toxic chemicals and heavy metals . Pollution Most oil pollution does not come from oil spills, however. It comes from the runoff of pollutants into streams and rivers that flow into the ocean. Most runoff comes from individual consumers. Cars, buses, motorcycles, and even lawn mowers spill oil and grease on roads, streets, and highways. (Runoff is what makes busy roads shiny and sometimes slippery.) Storm drains or creeks wash the runoff into local waterways, which eventually flow into the ocean. The largest U.S. oil spill in the ocean took place in Alaska in 1989, by the tanker Exxon Valdez . The Exxon Valdez spilled at least 10 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound. In comparison, American and Canadian consumers spill about 16 million gallons of oil runoff into the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans every year. For centuries, people have used the ocean as a dumping ground for sewage and other wastes. In the 21st century, the wastes include not only oil, but also chemical runoff from factories and agriculture . These chemicals include nitrates and phosphates , which are often used as fertilizers . These chemicals encourage algae blooms. An algae bloom is an increase in algae and bacteria that threatens plants and other marine life. Algae blooms limit the amount of oxygen in a marine environment, leading to what are known as dead zones , where little life exists beneath the ocean’s surface. Algae blooms can spread across hundreds or even thousands of miles. Another source of pollution is plastics . Most ocean debris, or garbage, is plastic thrown out by consumers. Plastics such as water bottles, bags, six-pack rings, and packing material put marine life at risk. Sea animals are harmed by the plastic either by getting tangled in it or by eating it. An example of marine pollution consisting mainly of plastics is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch . The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a floating dump in the North Pacific. It’s about twice the size of Texas and probably contains about 100 million tons of debris. Most of this debris comes from the western coast of North America (the U.S. and Canada) and the eastern coast of Asia (Japan, China, Russia, North Korea, and South Korea). Because of ocean currents and weather patterns, the patch is a relatively stable formation and contains new and disintegrating debris. The smaller pieces of plastic debris are eaten by jellyfish or other organisms, and are then consumed by larger predators in the food web. These plastic chemicals may then enter a human’s diet through fish or shellfish. Another source of pollution is carbon dioxide. The ocean absorbs most carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, which is necessary for life, is known as a greenhouse gas and traps radiation in Earth’s atmosphere. Carbon dioxide forms many acids, called carbonic acids , in the ocean. Ocean ecosystems have adapted to the presence of certain levels of carbonic acids, but the increase in carbon dioxide has led to an increase in ocean acids. This ocean acidification erodes the shells of animals such as clams, crabs, and corals. Global Warming Global warming contributes to rising ocean temperatures and sea levels . Warmer oceans radically alter the ecosystem. Global warming causes cold-water habitats to shrink, meaning there is less room for animals such as penguins, seals, or whales. Plankton, the base of the ocean food chain, thrives in cold water. Warming water means there will be less plankton available for marine life to eat. Melting glaciers and ice sheets contribute to sea level rise . Rising sea levels threaten coastal ecosystems and property. River deltas and estuaries are put at risk for flooding. Coasts are more likely to suffer erosion . Seawater more often contaminates sources of fresh water. All these consequences—flooding, erosion, water contamination—put low-lying island nations, such as the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, at high risk for disaster. To find ways to protect the ocean from pollution and the effects of climate change, scientists from all over the world are cooperating in studies of ocean waters and marine life. They are also working together to control pollution and limit global warming. Many countries are working to reach agreements on how to manage and harvest ocean resources. Although the ocean is vast, it is more easily polluted and damaged than people once thought. It requires care and protection as well as expert management. Only then can it continue to provide the many resources that living things—including people—need.

The Most Coast . . . Canada has 202,080 kilometers (125,567 miles) of coastline. Short But Sweet . . . Monaco has four kilometers (2.5 miles) of coastline.

No, the Toilet Doesn't Flush Backward in Australia The Coriolis effect, which can be seen in large-scale phenomena like trade winds and ocean currents, cannot be duplicated in small basins like sinks.

Extraterrestrial Oceans Mars probably had oceans billions of years ago, but ice and dry seabeds are all that remain today. Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, is probably covered by an ocean of water more than 96 kilometers (60 miles) deep, but it is trapped beneath a layer of ice, which the warmer water below frequently cracks. One of Saturn's moons, Enceladus, has cryovolcanism, or ice volcanoes. Instead of erupting with lava, ice volcanoes erupt with water, ammonia, or methane. Ice volcanoes may indicate oceanic activity.

International Oil Spill The largest oil spill in history, the Gulf War oil spill, released at least 40 million gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf. Valves at the Sea Island oil terminal in Kuwait were opened on purpose after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1991. The oil was intended to stop a landing by U.S. Marines, but the oil drifted south to the shores of Saudi Arabia. A study of the Gulf War oil spill (conducted by the United Nations, several countries in the Middle East and the United States) found that most of the spilled oil evaporated and caused little damage to the environment.

Ocean Seas The floors of the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea are more like the ocean than other seas they do not rest on a continent, but directly on the ocean's basalt crust.

Early Ocean Explorers Polynesian people navigated a region of the Pacific Ocean now known as the Polynesian Triangle by 700 C.E. The corners of the Polynesian Triangle are islands: the American state of Hawai'i, the country of New Zealand, and the Chilean territory of Easter Island (also known as Rapa Nui). The distance between Easter Island and New Zealand, the longest length of the Polynesian Triangle, is one-quarter of Earth's circumference, more than 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles). Polynesians successfully traveled these distances in canoes. It would be hundreds of years before another culture explored the ocean to this extent.

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Home › Blog › Why do I love the Ocean? Because it connects me to the people I love. #ThinkOcean

Why do I love the Ocean? Because it connects me to the people I love. #ThinkOcean

Many people say there are a million reasons to love the Ocean. As someone who’s spent their entire life by the sea, I can easily see how that could be true. The Ocean has a way of enchanting us, capturing our imagination and intriguing us with mysteries of the unexplored. As a child, the Ocean meant hours of fun at the beach with my family, exploring the rockpools, jumping through the waves with our family dog, and attempting to balance as many people as possible on some sort of floatation device without toppling over into the water! Happy memories like those mean that for me, the Ocean provides a sense of nostalgia and a feeling of belonging and home.

Spending so much time around the water made me want to learn more about the marine environment and the animals that live there. Finding out about the diversity of marine life, the importance of the Ocean for the health of the entire planet, and that there is so much more out there still to be discovered fascinated me. The more I learnt, the more reasons I discovered to love the Ocean.

But for me, the main reason doesn’t involve the amazing animals, the breath-taking scenery, or even the feeling of child-like freedom that comes from gliding through the water. Why do I love the Ocean? Because it connects me to the people I love.

I’ve been lucky enough to travel all over the world and meet some amazing people along the way. In 2015, I spent a year studying abroad in South Carolina. I lived in a coastal town 3,000 miles away from my home in Plymouth. As a 20 year old, with no friends or family in the area, it would’ve been easy to feel isolated and distant – but I never did. I found great comfort knowing that the Ocean I was looking at every day was the same that my family and friends were experiencing at home. It made me feel closer to them.

Four years later, and back in Plymouth, I still feel the same way. With loved ones all over the world, including my fiancé who currently lives in the USA, I’m grateful for that feeling of global connectedness, the feeling of closeness despite physical distance. My partner might not live by the sea, but the Ocean still connects us. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you live, you experience the water of the Ocean every day. All water is connected; rivers, lakes, the sea – it’s all the same water, cycling around the Earth, connecting us all. Many people say there are a million reasons to love the Ocean, but to me, there are 7.7 billion.

Emily Carter

#thinkocean.

WSDF 2020, Mar 5-7 | Durango, Mexico

The Ocean: Life Below Water and Why it Matters

Key questions >>>

• Why does the ocean matter? How is the ocean important for sustainable development?
• What does the sustainable blue economy offer us?
• What are the ocean knowledge gaps?
• How do we need to develop a multidisciplinary ocean science?

The ocean covers around three-quarters of the earth's surface and contains more than 90% of living species on our planet. The ocean is also the single largest ecosystem in the world, and it provides food for billions of people worldwide, as well as maritime transport, renewable energies, and other goods and services like regulating, cultural and supporting services. 

Nevertheless, the ocean is not indestructible, and our footprint is very large. Overfishing, toxic pollution, invasive species, nutrient over-enrichment, habitat degradation and destruction, biodiversity loss, dependence of a growing global population on its goods and services, and coastal development, all threaten the sustainability of coastal ocean ecosystems ( Vanderweerd in Sherman and McGovern, 2011). Ocean acidification is also a growing threat that may be more important than warming, pollution and overfishing (Roberts, 2011).

Why Does the Ocean Matter?

Oceans mean different things for different people: life, passion or wonderment; vastly important; a very important source of life and energy; an incredible source of food and amazing source of biodiversity; it's wild, exciting, terrifying and exhilarating; means a lot to me, if something happens I will not have the fun I’m used to; it's a livelihood, it's been there for generations and hopefully will be there for generations to come.’ (Adapted from video excerpt, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, 2011, in Muñoz-Sevilla and Le Bail 2017).

According to the World Wildlife Fund, the ocean is currently valued at $24 trillion dollars. The goods and services from marine environments add up to an additional $2.5 trillion yearly. This means the ocean would have the seventh-largest GDP in the world.  However, the value of the ocean relies on its current output, which in turn depends on its conditions. Climate change, ocean acidification, habitat destruction, pollution and overfishing are endangering the ocean and threatening its value and the security and livelihood of the three billion people who depend on it. Most of these people live in Small Island Developing States, they are among the ones who contribute least to these issues, but they are the ones at most risk, as they’re already vulnerable. ( Hoegh-Guldberg 2015)

Agenda 2030: SDG 13 and SDG 14

A historical change has been taking place for the past 23 years, from Agenda 21 to Agenda 2030. At the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992, more than 178 countries adopted Agenda 21. The Millennium declaration was adopted after the 2000 Millennium Summit in New York. 10 years after the Rio Earth Summit, in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were adopted during the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, ocean issues were included in the conversation for the first time. 

In 2012, at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (also popularly known as Rio+20), member states adopted the document titled “The Future We Want”, which set the process of developing the sustainable development goals (SDGs) building on the MDGs. Finally, during the UN Sustainable Development Summit in 2015, seventeen SDGs were adopted which are an integral part of the 2030 Agenda.  

Progress of SDG 14 in 2019

The expansion of protected areas for marine biodiversity and existing policies and treaties that encourage responsible use of ocean resources are still insufficient to combat the adverse effects of overfishing, growing ocean acidification and worsening coastal eutrophication. As billions of people depend on oceans for their livelihood and food source, increased efforts and interventions are needed to conserve and sustainably use ocean resources at all levels. 

• Ocean acidification is caused by the uptake of atmospheric CO 2 by the ocean, which changes the chemical composition of the seawater. Long-term observations over the past 30 years have shown an average increase of acidity of 26 percent since pre-industrial times. At this rate, an increase of 100 to 150 percent is predicted by the end of the century, with serious consequences for marine life. 
• To achieve sustainable development of fisheries, fish stocks must be maintained at a biologically sustainable level. Analysis reveals that the fraction of world marine fish stocks that are within biologically sustainable levels declined from 90 percent in 1974 to 66.9 percent in 2015. 
• As of December 2018, over 24 million km 2 (17.2 per cent) of waters under national jurisdiction (0–200 nautical miles from a national border) were covered by protected areas, a significant increase from 12 percent in 2015 and more than double the extent covered in 2010. The protected areas increased from 31.2 per cent in 2000 to 44.7 per cent in 2015 and to 45.7 per cent in 2018. 
• Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing remains one of the greatest threats to sustainable fisheries, the livelihoods of those who depend upon them and marine ecosystems. Most countries have taken measures to combat such fishing and have adopted an increasing number of fisheries management instruments in the past decade. 
• Small-scale fisheries are present in almost all countries, accounting for more than half of total production on average, in terms of both quantity and value. To promote small-scale fishers’ access to productive resources, services and markets, most countries have developed targeted regulatory and institutional frameworks. However, more than 20 per cent of countries have a low to medium level of implementation of such frameworks, particularly in Oceania and Central and South Asia.

The Ocean Decade

To recognize that more needs to be done to mitigate the global decline in ocean health, in December 2017, the UN declared 2021 to 2030 as the decade of ‘Ocean Science and Sustainable Development’. 

The Ocean Decade will strengthen international cooperation in all levels by strengthening dialogues, developing partnerships, developing capacity-building and leveraging investment, while supporting the entire 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. Other critical goals include improving ocean literacy and education to modify social norms and behaviors, and creating new models for ocean action.

The Ocean Decade aims to include science-informed mitigation and adaptation policies around the world and share knowledge with coastal communities who are most vulnerable to the changes of the ocean. (Claudet et al. 2019)

The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Ocean 

From Little Blue Letter, Glen Wright

• Marine creatures are enjoying some quiet time as underwater noise levels drop. Scientists are studying these effects on marine mammals.
• ​From Florida to Thailand, the number of sea turtles nests has increased on the now-empty beaches. The rapid recovery of marine wildlife in coastal areas shows how extensive our impacts are and highlights the importance of protected areas. 
• Fishers around the world are struggling with decreased demand, lack of sanitary conditions and logistical challenges. In some countries, like India, food security of the communities may be affected by this disruption of supply chains.
• PADI and Rash’R are producing (non-profit)  reusable face masks made from Ocean plastic , with designs based on sea animals!

Final Remarks

We can all take small steps towards protecting our ocean. Reduction of single-use plastic, responsible fish consumption, avoiding ocean harming products, and making your voice heard can all directly contribute towards a healthier ocean. However, more indirect approaches can be taken by reducing the amount of greenhouse gases produced by our daily activities and, therefore, reducing our carbon footprint. Reducing red meat consumption, consuming locally sourced products and using personal vehicles less are all examples of small steps we can take towards reducing our impact. The sum of individual actions can truly make a difference in the fate of our ocean.

Collectively, we need to form a global ocean community, acknowledging that all of our actions have an impact on the ocean (Claudet et al. 2019). And, although it is incumbent on each of us to take steps to protect the ocean, collective action is also required. New models for ocean action, which are collaborative, intergenerational, cross-cultural, and multi-sectoral, are needed in the coming decade, in order to protect our beloved ocean. 

The ocean is our life support system, it connects every one of us, you can think of the ocean as the blue heart  of this planet, but then we look after that heart and we know how we are damaging it and it needs intensive care. We know that scientists, politicians and stakeholders are talking to each other, but it isn’t just up to them, each and every one of us can make the difference, even if the difference might be small, after all individual small drops of sea water can make up the vast ocean . (Adapted from video excerpt, Plymouth Marine Laboratory 2011, in Muñoz-Sevilla and Le Bail 2017).

Bibliography

Cheung, W. et al (2013), “Signature of Ocean Warming in Global Fisheries Catch”, Nature, 497(2013): 365–368.

Claudet, J. et al (2019), “A Roadmap for Using the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development in Support of Science, Policy, and Action”, One Earth , 2(1): 34-42.

Halpern, B. et al (2012), “An Index to Assess the Health and Benefits of the Global Ocean, Nature , 488(2012): 615–620.

UNESCO and UNEP (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and United Nations Environment Programme) (2016), Large Marine Ecosystems: Status and Trends, Summary for Policy Makers , Nairobi: UNEP.

Muñoz-Sevilla N. and M. Le Bail M (2017), “Latin American and Caribbean Regional Perspectives on Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) of Large Marine Ecosystems Goods and Services”, Environmental Development , 22(2017), 9-17.

Munoz-Sevilla N. et al (2019), UNU Ocean Institute Scoping Study Report , Tokyo: United Nations University.

Plymouth Marine Laboratory (2011), Ocean Acidification: Connecting Science, Industry, Policy and Public (A Short Film for the Natural Environment Research Council and the UK Ocean Acidification Research Programme), Plymouth Marine Laboratory

Roberts D. (2011), In: Ocean Acidification: Connecting Science, Industry, Policy and Public . A short film for the Natural Environment Research Council and the UK Ocean Acidification Research Programme. Plymouth Marine Laboratory.

Sherman, K. and G. McGovern (2011), Toward Recovery and Sustainability of the World’s Large Marine Ecosystems during Climate Change , Gland, Switzerland: International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Sherman K. et al (2017), “Sustainable Development of Latin American and the Caribbean Large Marine Ecosystems”, Environmental Development , 22(2017), 1-8.

United Nations (2015), Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development , New York: UN.

Wright G. (2020), “The Pandemic and the Ocean”, Email Correspondence on May 1, 2020.

Hoegh-Guldberg, O. (2015), Reviving the Ocean Economy: The Case for Action , Geneva: World Wide Fund for Nature.

Consulted on April 24th, 2020. (2019) What is the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development?. https://www.oceandecade.org/about?tab=our-story . Consulted on May 4th, 2020.

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Marine life

Our ocean, coasts, and estuaries are home to diverse living things. These organisms take many forms, from the tiniest single-celled plankton to the largest animal on Earth, the blue whale. Understanding the life cycles, habits, habitats, and inter-relationships of marine life contributes to our understanding of the planet as a whole. Human influences and reliance on these species, as well as changing environmental conditions, will determine the future health of these marine inhabitants. Toxic spills , oxygen-depleted dead zones, marine debris , increasing ocean temperatures, overfishing, and shoreline development are daily threats to marine life. Part of NOAA's mission is to help protect these organisms and their habitats.

Food webs describe who eats whom in an ecological community. Made of interconnected food chains, food webs help us understand how changes to ecosystems — say, removing a top predator or adding nutrients — affect many different species, both directly and indirectly.

Phytoplankton and algae form the bases of aquatic food webs. They are eaten by primary consumers like zooplankton, small fish, and crustaceans. Primary consumers are in turn eaten by fish, small sharks, corals, and baleen whales. Top ocean predators include large sharks, billfish, dolphins, toothed whales, and large seals. Humans consume aquatic life from every section of this food web.

Coral reefs are some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. Coral polyps , the animals primarily responsible for building reefs, can take many forms: large reef building colonies, graceful flowing fans, and even small, solitary organisms. Thousands of species of corals have been discovered; some live in warm, shallow, tropical seas and others in the cold, dark depths of the ocean.

Seafood plays an essential role in feeding the world’s growing population. Healthy fish populations lead to healthy oceans and it's our responsibility to be a part of the solution. The resilience of our marine ecosystems and coastal communities depend on sustainable fisheries.

Estuaries are areas of water and shoreline where rivers meet the ocean or another large body of water, such as one of the Great Lakes. Organisms that live in estuaries must be adapted to these dynamic environments, where there are variations in water chemistry including salinity, as well as physical changes like the rise and fall of tides. Despite these challenges, estuaries are also very productive ecosystems. They receive nutrients from both bodies of water and can support a variety of life. Because of their access to food, water, and shipping routes, people often live near estuaries and can impact the health of the ecosystem.

Marine mammals are found in marine ecosystems around the globe. They are a diverse group of mammals with unique physical adaptations that allow them to thrive in the marine environment with extreme temperatures, depths, pressure, and darkness. Marine mammals are classified into four different taxonomic groups: cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises), pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses), sirenians (manatees and dugongs), and marine fissipeds (polar bears and sea otters).

Sea turtles breathe air, like all reptiles, and have streamlined bodies with large flippers. They are well adapted to life in the ocean and inhabit tropical and subtropical ocean waters around the world. Of the seven species of sea turtles, six are found in U.S. waters; these include the green, hawksbill, Kemp's ridley, leatherback, loggerhead, and olive ridley.

Introductory essay

Written by the educators who created The Deep Ocean, a brief look at the key facts, tough questions and big ideas in their field. Begin this TED Study with a fascinating read that gives context and clarity to the material.

How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean. Arthur C. Clarke

Planet Ocean

In the late 1960s, the Apollo Mission captured images of Earth from space for the very first time. These iconic photos gave people around the world a fresh perspective on our home planet — more specifically, its vast and dazzling expanses of blue. It's perhaps unsurprising that science has subsequently established the key roles that the ocean and its marine organisms play in maintaining a planetary environment suitable for life.

While the Apollo astronauts were sending back pictures of our blue planet, a scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California was searching for ways to detect life on other planets such as Mars. James Lovelock's investigations led him to conclude that the only way to explain the atmospheric composition of Earth was that life was manipulating it on a daily basis. In various publications, including his seminal 1979 book Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth , Lovelock launched the Gaia hypothesis, which describes how the physical and living components of the natural environment, including humankind, interact to maintain conditions on Earth. During the same period, marine scientists including Lawrence Pomeroy, Farooq Azam and Hugh Ducklow were establishing a firm link between the major biogeochemical cycles in the oceans and marine food webs, particularly their microbial components. In the late 1980s and 1990s, large-scale research programs like the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) explored ocean biogeochemistry and established the oceans' pivotal role in the Earth's carbon cycle.

Research efforts like these underscored the oceans' critical importance in regulating all the major nutrient cycles on Earth. It's now widely recognized that the ocean regulates the temperature of Earth, controls its weather, provides us with oxygen, food and building materials, and even recycles our waste.

The advent of deep-sea science

It seems remarkable that until fairly recently many scientists believed that life was absent in the deep sea. Dredging in the Aegean Sea in the 1840s, marine biologist Edward Forbes found that the abundance of animals declined precipitously with depth. By extrapolation he concluded that the ocean would be azoic (devoid of animal life) below 300 fathoms (~550m depth). Despite evidence to the contrary, scientists supported the azoic hypothesis, reasoning that conditions were so hostile in the deep ocean that life simply could not survive. Extreme pressure, the absence of light and the lack of food were viewed as forming an impenetrable barrier to the survival of deep-sea marine species.

But others were already proving this hypothesis wrong. As Edward Forbes published his results from the Aegean, Captain James Clark Ross and the famous naturalist John Dalton Hooker were exploring the Antarctic in the Royal Navy vessels HMS Terror and HMS Erebus . During this expedition, Ross and Hooker retrieved organisms from sounding leads at depths of up to 1.8km, including urchin spines and other fragments of various marine invertebrates, a number of bryozoans and corals. Ross remarked, "I have no doubt that from however great a depth we may be enabled to bring up the mud and stones of the bed of the ocean we shall find them teeming with animal life." This contention was supported by work of Norwegian marine biologists Michael Sars and George Ossian Sars who dredged hundreds of species from depths of 200 to 300 fathoms off the Norwegian coast.

Further evidence came from natural scientists William Carpenter and Charles Wyville-Thomson, who mounted expeditions in 1868 and 1869 on the vessels HMS Lightening and HMS Porcupine to sample the deep ocean off the British Isles, Spain and the Mediterranean. The findings of these expeditions, which Wyville-Thomson published in his 1873 book The Depths of the Sea , confirmed the existence of animal life to depths of 650 fathoms — including all the marine invertebrate groups — and suggested that oceanic circulation exists in the deep sea.

This convinced the Royal Society of London and the Royal Navy to organize the circumnavigating voyage of HMS Challenger in the 1870s. In part, the expedition's purpose was to survey potential routes for submarine telegraph cables, and so the links between scientific exploration and human use of the deep sea were established in the very early days of oceanography. The Challenger expedition was a watershed for deep-ocean science, establishing the basic patterns of distribution of deep-sea animals, and that their main food source was the rain of organic material from surface waters.

In the 1950s, the Danish Expedition Foundation's Galathea voyage established that life occurred at depths of more than 10km in the Philippines Trench. In 1960 marine explorers Auguste Picard and Don Walsh reached the bottom of the Challenger Deep in the Marianas Trench, at a depth estimated to be 10,916 meters--the deepest part of the ocean — where they observed flatfish from the porthole of their pressure sphere. This feat was not repeated until 2012 when James Cameron visited the bottom of the Challenger Deep in the submersible Deepsea Challenger .

Hype or hyper-diversity in the deep sea?

While working at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the late 1960s, scientists Howard Sanders and Robert Hessler developed new types of deep-sea trawls called epibenthic sleds that featured extra- fine mesh in the nets. When the new trawls were tested, they recovered an astonishing diversity of species from the deep sea. It became apparent that the species richness of deep-sea communities actually increased with greater depth to a peak somewhere on the continental slope between 2,000 and 4,000 meters depth. Beyond these depths, diversity appeared to decrease (but not everywhere), or the pattern was unclear.

How to explain this amazing diversity in the deep sea? Initially, scientists credited the species richness to the stability of environmental conditions in the deep ocean, which would support extreme specialization of the animals and thus allow many species to coexist. This is known as the stability-time hypothesis. Some scientists considered that small-scale variations of the sediments of the deep ocean, including reworking of seabed by animals, was important in maintaining microhabitats for many species. In the late 1970s other scientists suggested that conditions in shallow waters allow competitive exclusion, where relatively few species dominate the ecosystem, whereas in deeper waters environmental factors associated with depth and a reduced food supply promote biological communities with more diversity.

Fred Grassle and Nancy Maciolek added substantially to our knowledge of deep-sea biodiversity when they published a study of the continental slope of the eastern coast of the USA in the early 1990s. Grassle and Maciolek based their study on quantitative samples of deep-sea sediments taken with box cores. These contraptions retrieve a neat cube-shaped chunk of the seabed and bring it to the surface enclosed in a steel box. Scientists then sieve the mud and count and identify the tiny animals living in the sediment.

In a heroic effort, Grassle and Maciolek analyzed 233 box cores, an equivalent of 21 square meters of the seabed, identifying 90,677 specimens and 798 species. They estimated that they found approximately 100 species per 100 km along the seabed they sampled. Extrapolations of this figure suggested that there may be 1 - 10 million macrofaunal species in the deep sea.

What's more, some scientists argued that Grassle and Maciolek's estimates represented only a small part of the species diversity in the ocean depths. Dr John Lambshead of London's Natural History Museum pointed out that Grassle and Maciolek had not examined the smallest animals in sediments — the meiofauna — made up of tiny nematode worms, copepods and other animals. These are at least an order of magnitude more diverse than the macrofauna, suggesting that as many as 100 million species may inhabit the deep ocean.

However, given that the latest approximation of the Earth's biodiversity is 10 million species in total, Lambshead's number appears to be an overestimate. Scientists have since realized that there are major problems with estimating the species richness of large areas of the deep sea based on local samples. Today we understand that species diversity in the deep ocean is high, but we still don't know how many species live in the sediments of the continental slope and abyssal plains. We also don't understand the patterns of their horizontal distribution or the reasons for the parabolic pattern of species diversity as it relates to depth. Evidence suggests, however, that the functioning of deep-sea ecosystems depends on a high diversity of animals — although exactly why remains open to conjecture.

The creation of deep-sea environments: "Drifters" and "Fixists"

In 1912, German scientist Alfred Wegener put forward his theory of continental drift to address many questions that engaged the geologists and biologists of his time. For example, why do the continents appear to fit together as though they had once been joined? Why are many of the large mountain ranges coastal? And, perhaps most intriguing, why do the rocks and fossil biotas (combined plant and animal life) on disconnected land masses appear to be so similar?

Wegener's theory provoked a major scientific controversy that raged for more than 50 years between "drifters" and "fixists." Critics of Wegener's — the "fixists" — pointed out that Wegener's proposed mechanism for drift was flawed.

In the search for an alternate mechanism to explain continental drift, British geologist Arthur Holmes suggested that radioactive elements in the Earth were generating heat and causing convection currents that made the Earth's mantle fluid. Holmes argued that the mantle would then rise up under the continents and split them apart, generating ocean basins and carrying the landmasses along on the horizontally-moving currents.

Following World War II, scientific expeditions employing deep-sea cameras, continuously recording echo-sounders, deep-seismic profilers and magnetometers lent support to the arguments of Holmes and his fellow "drifters." Scientists realized that the deep sea hosted a vast network of mid-ocean ridges located roughly in the center of the ocean basins. These ridges were characterized by fresh pillow lavas, sparse sediment cover, intense seismic activity and anomalously high heat flow. Scientists found geologically-synchronous magnetic reversals in the rocks of the ocean crust moving away from either side of the mid-ocean ridges. Added to this was the fact that nowhere could scientists find sediments older than the Cretaceous in age. Together, these findings suggested that new oceanic crust was being formed along the mid-ocean ridges, while old oceanic plates are forced underneath continental plates and destroyed along the ocean trenches. By the late 1960s, the bitter scientific debate between the "fixists" and the "drifters" was finally settled.

Life without the sun

During the next decade, scientists investigating volcanic activity at mid-ocean ridges became interested in the associated phenomenon of hot springs in the deep sea. Anomalously high temperature readings over mid-ocean ridge axes led scientists to mount an expedition in 1977 to the 2.5 km-deep Galápagos Rift. From the submersible Alvin, the scientists observed plumes of warm water rising from within the pillow lavas on the seabed. Living amongst the pillows were dense communities of large vesicoyid clams, mussels, limpets and giant vestimentiferan tube worms (Siboglinidae). An abundance of bacteria around the Galápagos Rift site immediately suggested that these communities might be based on bacterial chemosynthesis, or chemolithotrophy, using chemical energy obtained by oxidizing hydrogen sulphide to drive carbon fixation. Subsequent investigation confirmed that the giant tube worms, clams and mussels actually hosted symbiotic sulphur-oxidizing bacteria in their tissues.

The discovery caused huge excitement in the scientific community. Here was life thriving in the deep sea, where primary production — the basis of the food web — was independent from the sun's energy. Furthermore, as scientists discovered additional vent communities and surveyed elsewhere in the mid-ocean ridge system, they found that environmental conditions were extreme, with high temperatures, acidic waters, hypoxia (lack of oxygen) and the presence of toxic chemicals the norm.

The implications of this were enormous and went well beyond the study of the ocean itself. First, it meant that life could exist elsewhere in our solar system in environments previously thought too extreme. Second, it widened the potential area for habitable planets around suns elsewhere in the universe. For example, the discovery in 2000 of the Lost City alkaline hydrothermal vents presented an environment that some scientists suggest is analogous to the conditions in which life evolved on Earth.

Subsequently, chemosynthesis has been discovered in many places in the ocean, including deep-sea hydrocarbon seeps, in large falls of organic matter such as whale carcasses, and from shallow-water sediments associated with, for example, seagrass beds.

Drawing down the oceans' natural capital

Over the past two decades, we've developed a much deeper understanding of the relationship between humankind and the natural world, including the Earth's oceans. In 1997 Robert Costanza and his colleagues published a paper in Nature that estimated the economic value of the goods and services provided by global ecosystems. Costanza and his colleagues argued that the living resources of Earth could be viewed as a form of natural capital with a value averaging $33 trillion per annum, upon which the entire human economy depended. These goods and services were later grouped into supporting (e.g. primary production), provisioning (e.g. food), regulating (climate regulation) and cultural (e.g. education) services.

While this knowledge may have been intuitive for many people, Costanza's recasting of the environment in economic terms forced policymakers, industry leaders and others to recognize the importance of long-term environmental sustainability. With the support of international agencies such as the World Bank, many countries are now implementing natural capital accounting procedures through legislation. The purpose of this is to help monitor and regulate the use and degradation of the environment and to ensure that the critical ecosystem goods and services underpinning economic activity and human well-being are not undermined.

Although it seems like a modern preoccupation, sustainability is actually a centuries-old challenge, particularly as it relates to marine environments. For example, there is evidence that aboriginal fisheries in ancient times may have overexploited marine species. Certainly by medieval times in Europe, a thriving market for fish, coupled with other developments like changing agricultural practices, forced species such as salmon and sturgeon into decline.

The Industrial Revolution led to an increase in hunting fish, seals and whales, thanks to the development of steam- and then oil-powered fishing vessels that employed increasingly sophisticated means of catching animals. Pelagic whaling began in the early 20th century; the development of explosive harpoons, the ability to process whales at sea, and the strong demand for margarine made from whale oil all contributed to dramatic rises in catches. Despite the initiation of the International Whaling Commission in 1946, a serial depletion of whale populations took place from the largest, most valuable species (e.g. blue whale) through to the smallest species (minke whale). The failure to regulate catches of whales led to the establishment of a near-moratorium on whaling in 1986.

Over the same post-war period, fishing fleets underwent a major expansion and deployed increasingly powerful fishing vessels. Improved technologies for navigating, finding fish and catching them led to increasing pressure on fish stocks and the marine ecosystems in which they lived. In 1998, after analyzing catch statistics from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), Daniel Pauly and his colleagues from the University of British Columbia identified a global shift in fish catches from long-lived, high trophic level predators to short-lived, low trophic level invertebrates and plankton-eating fish. This was the first evidence that fishing was having a global impact on marine ecosystems, causing major changes in the structure of ocean food webs. Aside from the economic impacts of "fishing down the food web," evidence was accumulating that it also affected the vulnerability and/or resilience of marine ecosystems to shocks such as invasions by alien species and climate-change effects such as mass coral bleaching.

Further evidence came in 2003 from a study by Ransom Myers and Boris Worm. Myers and Worm documented a significant decline over time in the stocks of certain large, predatory fish after analyzing information from research trawl surveys and the catches of the Japanese long-line fleet. Other studies over the same time period suggested that sharks, seabirds and turtles were suffering large-scale declines as they became by-catch in many industrial fisheries. Scientists also asserted that some fishing technologies, such as bottom trawling, were extremely damaging to seabed communities — deep-sea ecosystems in particular — by documenting the devastation of cold-water coral communities.

These studies sparked a bitter war of words between marine ecologists, fishing industry executives and fisheries biologists. While it has now been demonstrated that fish stocks can recover if levels of exploitation by fisheries are reduced through management measures, it's clear that in many parts of the world's oceans this is not happening. Overall, global yields from marine capture fisheries are in a downward trajectory. By-catch of some marine predators, such as albatrosses, still poses a threat of extinction. Habitat destruction resulting from fishing is continuing.

In addition to overfishing, other human activities are damaging marine ecosystems. During the 1960s and 1970s, several major accidents with oil tankers and oil installations resulted in serious oil spills. While oil pollution is still a significant problem, as illustrated by the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, other less-visible sources of pollution are causing large-scale degradation of the ocean.

Persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals such as mercury are being recognized as major health issues for marine animals (especially high trophic level predators, such as killer whales and tuna) and also for humans. The oceans are becoming the dumping ground for a wide range of chemicals from our personal care products and pharmaceuticals, as well as those that leach out of all manner of plastics that are floating in our seas. Agrochemicals are pouring into the oceans through rivers; in some cases these artificially fertilize coastal waters, generating blooms of algae which are broken down by bacteria, thus stripping the water of oxygen and creating dead zones.

Our release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2), is leading to a profound disturbance in ocean temperatures and ocean chemistry. Since the late 1970s, mass coral bleaching from ocean warming has killed large areas of tropical coral reefs. Marine animals are changing their distribution and the timing of their lifecycles, sometimes with catastrophic effects across the wider ecosystem. Such effects are often propagated from lower levels of food webs up through to predators such as fish and seabirds: witness recent declines in spectacled sea duck populations in the Arctic and the decline of cod populations in the North Sea. The oceans are becoming more acidic, which affects the growth rates of animals with calcium carbonate shells or skeletons and has other negative impacts on animal physiology. Many of these different stresses on marine species interact in a form of "negative synergy", inducing more severe effects than if they had presented in isolation. At the ecosystem level these stresses reduce the resilience of marine ecosystems to "shocks" arising from large-scale effects, such as anomalous warming events associated with climate change.

Ocean future

The TEDTalks in The Deep Ocean illuminate many current topics in marine science and oceanic exploration. These include the call for better conservation management in the face of unprecedented threats to marine ecosystems, the discovery and application of as-yet-untapped natural resources from the ocean depths, and the quest for improved technologies to support both of these endeavors. As Sylvia Earle eloquently reminds us in her 2009 TEDTalk, the oceans are critically important to maintaining the planet in a condition that is habitable, and better cooperative, international management of marine ecosystems is essential. However, as other TED speakers like Robert Ballard and Craig Venter argue, the oceans should also interest us because they contain vast untapped resources: unexploited mineral resources as well as genes, proteins and other biomolecules of marine life, which may furnish the medicines and industrial materials of the future.

Smart management of these natural resources requires knowledge, as do our efforts to ensure the oceans' ongoing species richness and their critical function in maintaining the Earth system. In their TEDTalks, explorers and scientists Edith Widder, Mike deGruy and Craig Venter share some of the amazing physical and biological features of ocean habitats and describe how new technologies allow more careful study and exploitation of deep-sea environments.

Despite these advances, there are still enormous gaps in our knowledge. In a TEDTalk he gave in 2008, Robert Ballard noted that many parts of the ocean remain entirely unexplored and he advocated for increased resources for organizations like NOAA. As many of the TED speakers in The Deep Ocean argue, marine science is more important than ever because the oceans are under serious threat from a range of human impacts including global-scale climate change.

However, these speakers also offer a message of hope, underscoring that there is still time to alter the current trajectory of degradation. Scientists including TED speaker John Delaney present a vision for the future where ecosystem-based management, coupled with the advent of new technologies that allow us to monitor ocean health in real time, provide us with tools to heal marine ecosystems. This may allow us to restore their capacity to provide goods and services for humankind over the long term. Measures such as marine-protected areas can maintain the oceans' important biogeochemical functions, but will also conserve the remarkable and beautiful marine ecosystems that have culturally enriched the human experience for millennia.

We'll begin our journey into The Deep Ocean with legendary explorer and oceanographer Sylvia Earle, who shares disturbing data about the decline of marine ecosystems and proposes one method to protect what she calls "the blue heart of the planet."

Sylvia Earle

My wish: protect our oceans, relevant talks.

Craig Venter

On the verge of creating synthetic life.

David Gallo

Underwater astonishments.

Edith Widder

Glowing life in an underwater world.

John Delaney

Wiring an interactive ocean.

Mike deGruy

Hooked by an octopus.

Robert Ballard

The astonishing hidden world of the deep ocean.

81 Ocean Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best ocean topic ideas & essay examples, 👍 good topics about the ocean, ❓ research questions about the ocean.

• The Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 and Its Consequences The worst effects of the great wave were observed in Indonesia, where the death toll exceeded 160,000 people, and the overall damages almost reached $4.
• Ocean Pollution and the Fishing Industry In essence, the activities of over six billion people in the world are threatening the survival and quality of water found in the oceans, lakes and other inland water catchment areas.
• Life in the Bottom of the Ocean and Its Protection While we all strive hard to detect and analyze the essence of life and the impact it has on our lives, we need to understand that life in itself is a big mystery, the truth […]
• The Ocean Pollution Problem Overview Ocean pollution is the unfavorable upshot due to the entrance of chemicals and particulate substances into the ocean. The land is the key source of ocean pollution in the form of non-point water pollution.
• Climate Change Impacts on Ocean Life The destruction of the ozone layer has led to the exposure of the earth to harmful radiation from the sun. The rising temperatures in the oceans hinder the upward flow of nutrients from the seabed […]
• The Problem of Ocean Pollution in Modern World Wastes such as toxic matter, plastics, and human wastes are some of the major sources of pollution in the ocean. Many people consume fish as food; when marine life is affected by toxic substance in […]
• Ocean Currents: General Information There are generally two types of ocean currents depending on the water level where the movement of oceanic water takes place and they are the deep ocean currents and the surface ocean currents.
• Gulf’s Indian Ocean Connections and Cultural Exchanges The persistence of Indian Ocean-Gulf trade due to demand of the goods resulted in a mixture of heritage and culture from the sailors, fishers, and traders from the western Indian Ocean system.
• Ocean Sustainability and Human Economic Activity The world economy and the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people depend on the ocean. It is important to remember that the misuse of water resources and the effects of global climate change will […]
• Habitat and Ocean Life Considerations of Bottlenose Dolphins The temperate and tropical oceans of the world are home to bottlenose dolphins. On the American continent, bottlenose dolphins can be seen along California’s southern beaches and the eastern seaboard from Massachusetts to Florida, and […]
• Plastic Ocean Pollution on Ocean Life in U.S. Ocean plastic pollution has had a great impact on a minimum of two hundred and sixty seven species across the world and these include forty three percent of all of the sea mammal species, eighty […]
• Plastic Ocean and Its Effect on the Ecosystem The purpose of this essay is to present science-based facts in support of the author’s words to convince the reader of the criticality of the ecological problem.
• Islam Expansion With the Intrusion of European Powers Impact on the History of the Indian Ocean This development has been researched and most of the research dwells on the activities of the Islamic rise between the seventh century and the 15th century.
• Ocean Fisheries Sustainability Analysis It is necessary for fishing industries to use better fishing methods in the ocean to ensure that their activities do not endanger the ecological balance. Fish species do not get the chance to replenish and […]
• How the Ocean Current Affect Animals’ Life in the Sea Depending on the strength of the ocean current, sea animals along the path are flown along with the water, and the animals are moved to new regions that are sometimes thousands of kilometers away causing […]
• The Negatives of Fossil Fuel: Ocean Acidification and Human Health The adverse effects of burning oil are hard to overestimate. Unless specific and practical actions are taken to address the issues of global climate change and pollution issues and reduce reliance on oil, the future […]
• Impacts of Climate Change on Ocean The development of phytoplankton is sensitive to the temperature of the ocean. Some marine life is leaving the ocean due to the rising water temperature.
• Mining and Ocean Use in Canada Cobalt, nickel, manganese, and copper are among the metals deep seabed mining seeks to extract from the polymetallic nodules on the seafloor and seamounts.
• Ocean Dumping Issue and Rhetorical Rationale Therefore, the goal of this paper is to prove that the poster in question manages to accomplish an impressive goal of subverting the audience’s expectation and encouraging them to shift from an ironic perception of […]
• The Ocean Dumping Problem: A Visual Argument There is, however, less awareness of deep-sea drilling and the impacts on the habitat and human life in the oceans and along the coasts.
• “Seaspiracy” by Ali Tabrizi: The Issue of the Ecology of the Oceans A guy interested in the impact of the plastic boom on the ocean’s life spins a chain that threatens the ecology of the oceans.
• “Ocean Acidification Impairs Olfactory Discrimination…” by Munday As was predicted prior to the experiment, the clownfish from the control group spent significantly more time in the stream of the water that contained xanthostemon, anemone, and non-parent olfactory clues.
• “Seaspiracy”, Making People Aware of Oceans’ Ecological Problems Subsequently, the most significant wellspring of plastic contamination on the planet’s seas is disposed of fishing gear. The film has brought issues to light of the emergencies on the seas.
• Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 342 Such flows reduce the temperature of the planet’s core, change the composition of the foundation bedrock, and impact microorganism dispersion in the subterranean ecosystem.
• Ocean Circulation and Biogeography, Species Distribution, Invasive Species The concept of ocean circulation refers to the movements of water in the oceans and seas. Surface ocean currents carry water from the poles to the tropics, where it is heated, and, afterwards, this water […]
• “History of Ocean Basins” by Hess From the article it is vivid that the coming into being of oceans is subject to discussion since the previous knowledge is doubtful, and the existing framework is confusing.
• The Ocean Shipping Security Concerns The government has become aware that the security of all kinds of transportation may be breached, and it could be dangerous for the overall safety of U.S.citizens.
• How Climate Change Impacts Ocean Temperature and Marine Life The ocean’s surface consumes the excess heat from the air, which leads to significant issues in all of the planet’s ecosystems.
• Intergovernmental Relations and Ocean Policy Change The administration of Ronald Reagan contributed to the Federal ocean policy in the 1980s. During this change, analysts believed the United States was making a shift from ocean protection of the 1970s to ocean management […]
• Ocean Circulation in a Warming Climate These effects will enhance the development of reduced release of radio-carbon depleted carbon dioxide gas and thus the idea of the self-restoration mechanism of the earth to this global warming.
• Ocean and U.S. Naval Transportation This is in response to the jurisdictional revolution in the law of the sea, the expansion of economic activities at sea, increased concern for the health of the world’s oceans, and awareness of the importance […]
• Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion The warm seawater is carried into a chamber and is used to produce vapor that, in turn, is used to rotate a turbine.
• Marine Biology: Polar Oceans as an Eco System The water in and around the Antarctic continent is referred to as the Antarctic or Southern Ocean. The Atlantic Water is situated between the Arctic Surface Water and the Arctic Deep Water.
• Concerns of Ocean Ecosystem Pollution The range of adverse outcomes for ocean ecosystems can be discussed in volumes; however, the current discussion will focus on trash in the ocean waters, acidification, and the disruption of the marine life cycles.
• Hudson River’s Ocean Floor Investigation Mapping the ocean floor of the Hudson River would enable the analysis of sediments and the bottom surface hardness as well as would provide data on bottom features and the depth of the river.
• Ocean-Plate Tectonics and Geology Bathymetry of the ocean seafloor refers to the measurement of how deep the sea is in relation to the sea level.
• Climate Change Effects on Ocean Acidification The scientists realized that the crisis lasted for several millennia before the oceans could fully recover from the impacts of the drop in the pH level.
• Common Ownership of Oceans and Regulations The “common ownership” problem relates to the pollution and unsustainable use or overexploitation of a common access resource. Regulations that address the problems of overexploitation and pollution are required to preserve marine life.
• Water Crisis, Oceans and Sea Turtles Issues In the case of Mexico, it appears that the past regimes have never put a lot of focus on the utilization of water resources.
• Ocean Acidification Impact on the Sea Urchin Larval Growth Due to the carbon dioxide increase in the atmosphere, acidity in the oceans is increasing++ and a fast increase of change rate is experienced.
• Pacific Ocean: Essentials of Oceanography The ocean has about 25,000 islands which are in excess of the entire number islands in all the oceans across the world. The volume of water in the ocean is about 622 million km3.
• Political Problems in the Atlantic Ocean However, these human activities have posed a menace to the ocean’s life, a situation that has led to the development of international ocean policies that include laws, guidelines, and conventional practices to enhance the life […]
• The World Oceans Pollution and Overfishing Human beings have taken a lot of time to realize the need for ocean conservation to the extent that the ocean has succumbed to ecological challenges that have affected their lives in a variety of […]
• Ocean Acidification: Marine Calcification Process This article correlates calcium with oceanography because the process of acidification, which causes the ocean’s pH to decrease because of excess carbon from the atmosphere, has impacts on calcifying organisms in the oceans.
• The Indian Ocean Economic Future In particular, the increasing interest of China, India and other southern Asian states in the Africa-Asia and Asia-European trade is expected to play a significant role in determining the future of the Indian Ocean trade […]
• Ocean Literacy and Exploration From the onset of “human-ocean interaction and exploration in the fifteenth century” and despite ocean being the largest feature of the earth, only 5% of the ocean is known.
• Early Americans and Easter Island Colonization Genetic evidence has been used to prove the theory that though the Europeans were the first inhabitants of this Island, South Americans assisted in the colonization.
• The Great Ocean Road Triathlon The website will have information about joining the triathlon, and will give advice on how to prepare for the event. The group will be responsible for the quality, safety and fairness of the event.
• Ocean and Atmosphere Circulation Oceanic and atmospheric circulation is the means by which heat is distributed on the surface of the Earth by large scale circulation of air.
• The Global Ocean Conveyor Belt This ocean water phenomenon is a result of the temperature difference in the ocean waters between the warm, salty surface water, and the less salty cold water in the ocean depths.
• The Viability of Continuing Investment on Tourism in the Great Ocean Road Region Tourism in the Great ocean Road region Tourism is a very critical sector of the economy and it entails provision of various services to tourists who visit tourism attraction sites which in most cases are […]
• Movie Making: Movies That Take Place on the Ocean As the Waterworld was “one of the most troubled productions in Hollywood history” and the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean was easy and quick, it possible to notice that the filmmakers got the success […]
• The Ocean’s Rarest Mammal Vaquita – An Endangered Species The vaquita looks like a curved stocky porpoise, and it is the smallest of all the porpoises in the world. This is a matter of concern and ought to be investigated if the survival of […]
• Policy Change to Control Ocean Dumping Policies addressing the issue of ocean dumping and the need to curb it have been in place. Several factors fueled the change; for instance, change in the information concerning the effect of ocean dumping to […]
• What Are the Ocean Zones?
• How Does Water’s High Latent Heat Influence the Ocean?
• Why Won’t California Fall Into the Ocean?
• What Is the Craziest Fact About the Ocean?
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• Can Nano Technology Help Clean up Oil Spills in the Ocean and Seas?
• How Does Carbon Dioxide Affect the Levels of the Ocean?
• What Are the Similarities Between the Ocean Marine and Temperate Grasslands Ecosystem?
• Why Are the Sky and the Ocean Blue: Rebecca Solnit on the Color of Distance and Desire?
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• Is It Possible to End Overfishing and Increase the Resilience of the Ocean to Climate Change?
• What Are Chemical Diversity and Biochemical Transformation of Biogenic Organic Sulfur in the Ocean?
• Why Exploring the Ocean Is Mankind’s Next Giant Leap?
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• Where Are the Youngest Rocks in the Ocean Crust?
• Why Doesn’t the Ocean Boil Away at the Equator?
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Essay on Ocean

Table of contents

Introduction, going back to the beginning, state of our ocean, 1. no corner left clean:, 2. survey of life:, 3. the most endangered places:, ii. coasts:, iii. continental shelves:, iv. open ocean, the impact of humans, getting on the right track, reference list.

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• Lem, V. K. (2012, Jun 22). One ocean: Episode 1: Birth of an ocean. (the nature of things series)/One ocean: Episode 2: Footprints in the sand. (the nature of things series)/One ocean: Episode 3: Mysteries of the deep. (the nature of things series)/One ocean: Episode 4: The changing sea. (the nature of things series). CM: Canadian Review of Materials, 18, 1. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1023805845?accountid=158790
• State of Our Oceans | Ocean Leadership. (2016, June 29). Retrieved from https://oceanleadership.org/state-of-our-oceans/
• Mooney, C. (2015, Oct 09). Worldwide coral reef death underway; coral bleaching; dramatic loss blamed on global warming. Edmonton journals retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1720957384?accountid=158790
• Underwater Noise Pollution Harms Marine Life Publication info: Voice of America News /FIND; Washington, (Dec 15, 2008).
• Galloway, Gloria. Daily Townsman; Cranbrook, B.C. [Cranbrook, B.C]22 Feb 2001: 2.
• Osterlund, Peter. The Christian Science Monitor; Boston, Mass. [Boston, Mass]31 Aug 1983
• Science File; IN BRIEF; Warming Is Seen in Oceans' Saltiness Publication info: Los Angeles Times; Los Angeles, Calif. [Los Angeles, Calif]20 Dec 2003: A.31.
• Ecology, Environment & Conservation ; Atlanta [Atlanta]03 May 2019: 260.
• Lockwood, Deirdre. Chemical & Engineering News; Washington Vol. 91, Iss. 49, (Dec 9, 2013): 8.
• Mooney, Chris. Edmonton Journal; Edmonton, Alta. [Edmonton, Alta]09 Oct 2015: N.3.
• Ecology, Environment & Conservation ; Atlanta [Atlanta]26 Dec 2014: 607.
• Allsopp, Michelle, Adam Walters, David Santillo, and Paul Johnston (2014), 'Plastic Debris in the World's Oceans - a UNEP Report.
• 'The Ocean Conference | 5–9 June 2017'. United Nations. Retrieved 6 June 2017.

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The Ocean and the Meaning of Life

By maria popova.

This essay is adapted from Figuring .

Fifteen years earlier, at age twenty-nine, Rachel Carson (May 27, 1907–April 14, 1964) had gotten her start at the lowest rungs of the government agency as a field aide hired at $6.50 an hour. Wading through tide pools and annual marine census reports as a junior aquatic biologist, she had found her voice as a writer with an uncommon gift for walking the teeming shoreline between the scientific and the poetic. In an unexampled essay that eventually bloomed into The Sea Around Us , which won her the National Book Award, she had invited the human imagination undersea , into a world then more mysterious than the Moon. Now, forty-five and finally free from the day-job by which she had been supporting her mother, her sister, and the young nephew she adopted and raised as her son after her sister’s death, Carson set out to fulfill her childhood dream of living by the ocean.

After searching along the New England coast, she fell in love with West Southport — a picturesque island in Maine, nestled among evergreens and oaks in the estuary of the Sheepscot River, where seals frequented the beach and whales billowed by as though torn from the pages of her beloved Melville. With her book royalties, she bought a plot of land on which to build a cottage. In a touching testament to her orientation to the natural world, she felt deeply uncomfortable thinking of herself as its “owner” — a “strange and inappropriate word” — of this “perfectly magnificent piece of Maine shoreline.” There, she would soon meet her soul mate , whose love would bolster Carson’s moral courage in catalyzing the environmental movement ; there, she would compose her next book, dedicating it to her beloved Dorothy for having gone down with her “into the low-tide world” and “felt its beauty and its mystery.”

The Edge of the Sea was an ambitious guide to the seashore — the place where Carson found “a sense of the unhurried deliberation of earth processes that move with infinite leisure, with all eternity at their disposal”; the strange and wondrous boundary the ocean-loving Whitman had once extolled as “that suggesting, dividing line, contact, junction… blending the real and ideal, and each made portion of the other.”

The book was also an admonition against what we stand to lose — writing in the early 1950s, Carson noted the systematically documented and “well recognized” fact of global climate change. But was primarily a celebration, for that is always the most effective instrument of admonition — a celebration of what we have and what we are, an ode to “how that marvelous, tough, vital, and adaptable something we know as LIFE has come to occupy one part of the sea world and how it has adjusted itself and survived despite the immense, blind forces acting upon it from every side.”

Inevitably, in telling the story of life, the book takes on an existential undertone, rendered symphonic under Carson’s poetic pen. Watching the fog engulf the rocks beneath her study window as the night tide rolls in, she considers the totality of being, which the world’s oceans contour and connect:

Hearing the rising tide, I think how it is pressing also against other shores I know — rising on a southern beach where there is no fog, but a moon edging all the waves with silver and touching the wet sands with lambent sheen, and on a still more distant shore sending its streaming currents against the moonlit pinnacles and the dark caves of the coral rock. Then in my thoughts these shores, so different in their nature and in the inhabitants they support, are made one by the unifying touch of the sea. For the differences I sense in this particular instant of time that is mine are but the differences of a moment, determined by our place in the stream of time and in the long rhythms of the sea. Once this rocky coast beneath me was a plain of sand; then the sea rose and found a new shore line. And again in some shadowy future the surf will have ground these rocks to sand and will have returned the coast to its earlier state. And so in my mind’s eye these coastal forms merge and blend in a shifting, kaleidoscopic pattern in which there is no finality, no ultimate and fixed reality — earth becoming fluid as the sea itself.

The year of Carson’s death, as Dorothy scattered her ashes into the rocking bay, James Baldwin would echo these existential undertones in his poetic insistence that “nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever… the sea does not cease to grind down rock.” Carson — still alive, still islanded for a mortal moment in the ocean of ongoingness — adds:

On all these shores there are echoes of past and future: of the flow of time, obliterating yet containing all that has gone before; of the sea’s eternal rhythms — the tides, the beat of surf, the pressing rivers of the currents — shaping, changing, dominating; of the stream of life, flowing as inexorably as any ocean current, from past to unknown future. […] Contemplating the teeming life of the shore, we have an uneasy sense of the communication of some universal truth that lies just beyond our grasp. What is the message signaled by the hordes of diatoms, flashing their microscopic lights in the night sea? What truth is expressed by the legions of the barnacles, whitening the rocks with their habitations, each small creature within finding the necessities of its existence in the sweep of the surf? And what is the meaning of so tiny a being as the transparent wisp of protoplasm that is a sea lace, existing for some reason inscrutable to us — a reason that demands its presence by the trillion amid the rocks and weeds of the shore? The meaning haunts and ever eludes us, and in its very pursuit we approach the ultimate mystery of Life itself.

As The Edge of the Sea alighted in the world, critical praise and honors came cascading, trailed by invitations for lectures and acceptance speeches. Always uncomfortable with attention and public appearances, Carson became even more selective, prioritizing women’s associations and nonprofit cultural institutions over glamorous commercial stages. When she did speak, her words became almost a consecration, as in a speech she delivered before a convocation of librarians:

When we go down to the lowest of the low tide lines and look down into the shallow waters, there’s all the excitement of discovering a new world. Once you have entered such a world, its fascination grows and somehow you find your mind has gained a new dimension, a new perspective — and always thereafter you find yourself remember[ing] the beauty and strangeness and wonder of that world — a world that is as real, as much a part of the universe, as our own.

Savor more of Carson’s lyrical reverence for the sea and the strange wonder of life in Figuring . Couple this fragment with a stunning illustrated celebration of our water world based on Indian mythology, then revisit Carson’s life-tested wisdom on writing and the loneliness of creative work , the story of how her writing sparked the environmental movement , and Neil Gaiman’s poetic tribute to her legacy .

— Published June 7, 2021 — https://www.themarginalian.org/2021/06/07/rachel-carson-the-edge-of-the-sea/ —

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Sea Life - Free Essay Examples and Topic Ideas

Sea life is a diverse and fascinating world of creatures that inhabit the oceans, seas and other bodies of water around the world. This incredible ecosystem of animals includes everything from tiny plankton to enormous whales, from colorful coral reefs to vast underwater forests. The oceans are home to a wide range of marine life, including fish, sharks, turtles, dolphins, seals, sea lions, squid, octopuses, starfish, crabs, jellyfish, and many other fascinating creatures. From the depths of the ocean to the shallowest coastal waters, the sea is home to an incredible variety of life that continues to fascinate and amaze us.

• 📘 Free essay examples for your ideas about Sea Life
• 🏆 Best Essay Topics on Sea Life
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• The Sea Hurting The Marine Life
• Deep Sea Adaptations
• “The Sea Around Us” by Rachel Carson
• Rescue at Sea
• Garbage Pollution of the Sea and Beaches
• The City in the Sea
• Enjoy the sea adventure
• A Place Where the Sea Remembers – Short Story
• A village by the sea
• 3 Chemical Contaminants from Sea Based Sources
• A Place Where the Sea Remembers: Character Like Candelario Marroquin
• Yann Martel’s Life of Pi: a credible sea story
• Interpretation of Shadow, Silence and the Sea by A. C. Swinburne
• The Loss of the Aral Sea
• An Analysis of the Importance of Imagination in Haroun and the Sea of Stories
• “Island Man” and “The Fringe Of The Sea”
• Bryan O’Malley Lost at Sea
• The Old Man and the Sea: Aspect of Perseverance
• Gift from the Sea
• Herman Melville:Author of the Sea
• Economic Rationalism in the Reagan Era
• Defeat in The Old Man and the Sea
• Anita Desai’s The Village by the Sea
• Plot summary of The Old Man And The Sea
• Hemingway’s Use of Code Hero in The Old Man and the Sea
• “The village by the sea” By Anita Desai
• Haroun and the Sea of Stories Closed Reading
• The Old Man and the Sea and The Martian by Andy Weir
• Binary oppositions of Male/Female in Wide Sargasso Sea
• The ecological aspects In The Old Man and the Sea
• All Chapters of Summary of the Village by the Sea
• The Heroic Impulse in “The Old Man and the Sea”
• Yukio Mishima’s novel The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea
• METHODS OF STUDYIntroductionLaw is indeed a vast sea and many a times
• Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea”
• Riders to the Sea as a modern tragedy

FAQ about Sea Life

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Naja Bertolt Jensen/Ocean Image Bank

How does plastic pollution affect marine life?

Plastic has helped humanity progress in ways unimaginable only a century ago. It has revolutionised healthcare, made homes more energy efficient, and reduced pressure on the extraction of natural resources, such as wood and cotton, by creating plastic alternatives. Its durability means we should be wasting less , not more; plastic takes hundreds – potentially thousands – of years to degrade. And herein lies the best, and the worst, property of plastic: it lasts forever.

Plastic is devastating to nature. Natural ecosystems operate on a cycle of renewal: plants and animals grow, die, and become food for the next generation. These ecosystems have no place for substances that do not degrade. Our wonder material has now escaped the urban environment and is reaching every corner of the natural world, from the deepest point of the Mariana trench to the top of Mount Everest.

What impact is plastic having on the ocean?

The ocean is perhaps the most vulnerable environment to plastic waste. Once plastic enters the sea, it has no boundaries – waves and storms can carry plastics to even the furthest reaches of the ocean, where they accumulate into large gyres on the high seas or become embedded in shorelines and delicate coastal ecosystems; they’ve even been found on uninhabited islands. After some months or years at sea, plastic breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, battered by waves and storms, eventually to sizes smaller than a grain of sand. This makes retrieving plastics from the ocean extremely difficult – almost impossible.

The number of marine mammals estimated to be killed by plastic every year.

12.7 million tonnes

The amount of plastic that reaches the ocean every year.

How does plastic affect marine species?

It is estimated that marine plastics are contributing to the death of more than 100,000 marine mammals every year . Plastic can affect marine species in a variety of ways, from entanglement and injury to ingestion and toxic contamination. The major determining factor is the size of the plastic, which can adversely affect different species in different ways – and on different timescales.

Macroplastics

Size: Plastics larger than 20mm

Examples: Fishing gear, six-pack rings, plastic bottles

Threats: Large items of plastic can capture and entangle marine mammals and fish and stop them from escaping, usually leading to starvation, injury and predator vulnerability. Discarded fishing nets can also smother and break coral reefs, preventing healthy growth.

Mesoplastics

Size: Plastics between 5-10mm

Examples: Plastic pellets, fragments of broken-up larger plastics

Threats: Small but visible plastic fragments can sit on the surface of the water and be mistaken for food by seabirds and other marine species, leading to issues including suffocation, starvation and toxic contamination over time.

Microplastics and Nanoplastics

Size: Plastics smaller than 5mm, small microscopic particles

Examples: Granules in face scrubs and toothpaste, microfibres from textiles, disintegration from larger plastics

Threats: Microplastics are invisible to the naked eye, making them easy for wildlife to consume. They also have the ability to adsorb toxins, which can transfer to the fatty tissues of the organisms that ingest them. Because microplastics are a reasonably new discovery, their long-term impacts are yet to be determined.

What species are most affected by marine plastic pollution?

Whales and other marine megafauna.

Large marine mammals are highly vulnerable to plastic entanglement, particularly from ghost fishing gear. Fishing ropes, nets and pots that have been discarded or abandoned at sea are often made from plastic, and can trap and entangle a variety of marine life, from blue whales to small crabs. An estimated 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises a year die from ghost gear entanglement . Marine megafauna are also vulnerable to plastic ingestion; in 2019, one whale was found washed up with 40kg of plastic in its stomach , predominantly comprising plastic bags.

A family of Dolphins. © Adobestock

A family of Dolphins

Sea turtles

Turtles often mistake plastic for food. Plastic bags look similar to jellyfish, the staple diet of leatherback turtles, and fishing nets can look like delicious seaweed. When turtles eat plastic bags, it can make them feel full, eventually leading to starvation. A recent study found that all seven species of sea turtle from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea had traces of microplastics in their gut . Sea turtles also fall victim to entanglement from six-pack rings, which can get caught around their shells and necks.

Turtle trapped in a plastic net. ©Umeed Mistry / Ocean Image Bank

Turtle trapped in a plastic net.

For millennia, seabirds have fed from the surface of the ocean, swooping down and scooping up small fish and algae. It’s no surprise, then, that seabirds are now mistaking small plastic fragments that sit on the water’s surface for food. When ingested, these small pieces of plastic can lead to starvation or suffocation. Some seabirds are able to regurgitate pieces of plastic, but petrels, for example, find this difficult. Northern fulmars are known to ingest plastic pellets and consequently, the species is now monitored as an indicator of pellet pollution levels in the North Sea. Many species of seabird have also been found feeding plastic pieces to their young. Plastic debris is said to cause the deaths of more than a million seabirds each year .

© Harry Collins / Adobe Stock

Fish and molluscs

Hundreds of fish species, including many that humans consume, have been found with traces of microplastics in their bodies. In a study summarising over 100 research papers on fish and plastic ingestion among 500 fish species, over two-thirds had consumed plastic . Fish often mistake small plastic pieces, such as pellets, for food.

When molluscs such as mussels and oysters filter seawater to feed, they also take in human-created pollutants, including microplastics. In a recent study of mussels sourced from UK waters, 100% of samples were found to contain microplastic pieces .

© Vincent Kneefel / Ocean Image Bank

Apex predators

Apex predators are species that sit at the top of the food chain. A large, yet understudied, threat to marine apex predators such as great white sharks and orcas is the cumulative impact of microplastics in the food chain and the bioaccumulation of toxic chemicals found in plastics. A recent study has shown that a single plastic particle can adsorb up to one million times more toxic chemicals than the water around it.

Biomagnification occurs when chemicals build up in the fatty tissues of animals that have eaten other contaminated species. The higher up the food chain you go, the greater the concentration of toxins. Orcas have been found with some of the highest deposits of chemicals in their fatty tissues and in their breast milk, which is fed to their young. Academics around the world are working hard to understand the link between microplastic pollution and the biomagnification of toxic chemicals.

Great white shark © Andy Casagrande / Ocean Image Bank

Great white shark

How can we reduce plastic pollution in the ocean?

Stopping the problem at the source.

Fauna & Flora believes that the most effective way to stem the tide of marine plastic pollution is to focus on preventing the problem at its source. This includes measures to minimise plastic leakage into the natural environment, making plastics less toxic, and increasing the likelihood that plastics can be reused, repurposed or recycled effectively. We need to see a shift in how we view and use plastic, and move away from treating plastic as a ‘waste’ material.

What has Fauna & Flora done so far?

Fauna & Flora has already had notable success in tackling direct sources of damaging microplastics. In 2016, we worked in collaboration with NGOs and government agencies to secure a ban on the use of microbeads in rinse-off cosmetic products, such as face scrubs and toothpaste. We are working to influence policies that would eliminate pellet loss from global supply chains on land and at sea and we are helping textile manufacturing companies better understand where their operations are at risk of generating microplastic fibre pollution – in anticipation of emerging legislation on this issue.

How Fauna & Flora is working to reduce plastic pollution.

Standing up for the ocean

The environmental outlook of our world hangs in the balance. Please help us make sure it’s a world where ending plastic pollution is high on the agenda. By supporting Fauna & Flora, you could help fund our work to drive the policy change needed to bring an end to the unnecessary use and irresponsible disposal of plastics.

Young male humpbacks. © Ron Watkins / Ocean Image Bank

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Science News

Sea life offers a lens for self-exploration in ‘how far the light reaches’.

A collection of essays about 10 sea creatures, including the purple octopus ( Graneledone boreopacifica ), helps the author explore their own life.

NOAA, MBARI/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

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By Aina Abell

January 13, 2023 at 7:00 am

How Far the Light Reaches Sabrina Imbler Little, Brown & Co., $27

In How Far the Light Reaches , Sabrina Imbler shows us that the ocean, in all its mystery and dazzling glory, is queer — that is, the life that takes shape there challenges how we landlubbers perceive ways of being. This collection of essays tells the stories of 10 sea creatures, with Imbler, a queer and mixed-race writer, weaving in stories of their own family, self-discovery, sexuality and healing. The profiled animals, often thought of as strange or alien, transform into recognizable emblems of identity, community and queer joy in this delectable amalgam of memoir and science journalism.

Imbler begins with a confession: “The truth is that I was asked to leave the Petco, but I told everyone I was banned.” Thirteen-year-old Imbler had staged a protest in the store, attempting to convince customers not to buy goldfish bowls. The bowls, Imbler writes, condemn the fish to a truncated life in a transparent coffin, in which they will die isolated, starved of oxygen and poisoned with ammonia from their own urine.

But unencumbered by the confines of a bowl, the fish thrive. When bored pet owners dump goldfish in lakes or rivers, the fish can balloon to the size of jugs of milk. They are “so good at living they have become an ecological menace,” breeding with abandon, uprooting bottom dwellers, and fomenting bacterial growth and algal blooms, Imbler writes.

Yet Imbler can’t help but admire the feral goldfish’s resilience: “I see something that no one expected to live not just alive but impossibly flourishing.”

Survival among unthinkable circumstances is a theme common to all the profiled animals. Take the yeti crab ( Kiwa puravida ), which, after reading this book, I now proclaim a queer icon (step aside, the Babadook). In the frigid dark, about 1,000 meters below the sea surface, the crab finds solace near hydrothermal vents.

Such hot spots foster life in a desolate wasteland. Heat and chemicals from inside the Earth sustain an ecosystem of crabs, clams, mussels, tube worms and more. There, in true queer fashion, K. puravida “dances to live,” Imbler writes. The yeti crab throws its claws in the air and waves ’em like it just don’t care. In doing so, it is “farming” the bacteria that it eats, which cling to the crab’s bristly claws. Waving the claws in a slow but steady rhythm ensures the bacteria get nutrients.

In telling the crab’s story, Imbler reminisces on their quest to find community after moving to Seattle in 2016. Feeling alone among the mostly white people they met, Imbler discovered a monthly party called Night Crush, thrown by and for queer people of color. Night Crush became Imbler’s own hydrothermal vent — an oasis warmed by people dancing in mesh, sequins, glitter and joy. “As queer people, we get to choose our families,” Imbler writes. “Vent bacteria, tube worms, and yeti crabs just take it one step further. They choose what nourishes them.”

Imbler looks to the sea to explore all aspects of family. The purple octopus ( Graneledone boreopacifica ), for instance, offers insights on motherhood. During a four-and-a-half-year brooding period, the longest known for any animal , the octopus starves herself to death, foregoing hunting to protect her eggs ( SN: 7/30/14 ).

Through the octopus’ saga, Imbler reflects on their own mother, who moved to the United States from Taiwan as a child. Imbler’s mother felt like she was on “a new planet.” To survive, she learned to want to be as white and “American” as possible, and as thin as possible — traumas inherited by Imbler, who developed an eating disorder.

In their recovery, Imbler has realized their mother’s wish for them to be thin, though damaging, was, in a way, an act of love: “She wanted me to be skinny so things would be easier. White, so things would be easier. Straight, so things would be easy, easy, easy. So that unlike her, no one would ever question my right to be here, in America.”

It is with that same grace, clarity and tenderness that Imbler crafts the book’s other essays, whether it’s meditating on their own gender expression through the cuttlefish’s mastery of metamorphosis or examining their experience of sexual assault through the sand striker, an ambush predator of the seafloor.

Like a goldfish confined by a bowl, I am confined by my word count and can’t say everything I want to about this must-read book. So I’ll end on one final insight. In one essay, Imbler introduces salps. These jelly-like blobs exist as a colony of hundreds of identical salps joined in a chain. The creatures do not move in one synchronized effort. “Salps allow each individual to jet at its own pace in the same general direction,” Imbler writes. “It is not as fast as coordinated strokes, but it’s more sustainable long-term, each individual sucking and spurting as it pleases.”

This idea of one collective, made up of individuals marching toward a common cause at their own pace, is one that queer people and other marginalized groups know well — whether creating community or protesting for civil rights. And it’s a notion that Imbler imparts upon their reader: “We may all move at different paces, but we will only reach the horizon together.”

Buy  How Far the Light Reaches from Bookshop.org.  Science News  is a Bookshop.org affiliate and will earn a commission on purchases made from links in this article.

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Essay on Sea Animals

Students are often asked to write an essay on Sea Animals in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Sea Animals

Introduction.

Sea animals are a fascinating group of creatures that live in the ocean. They range from tiny plankton to the gigantic blue whale, the largest animal on Earth.

Variety of Sea Animals

Importance of sea animals.

Sea animals play vital roles in the ocean ecosystem. They help to balance the food chain and contribute to the health of coral reefs and seagrass beds.

Conservation

Sadly, many sea animals are threatened by pollution, climate change, and overfishing. It’s essential for us to protect these amazing creatures and the habitats they call home.

250 Words Essay on Sea Animals

Sea animals, a vast and diverse group of organisms, play a significant role in maintaining the balance of marine ecosystems. These creatures, ranging from microscopic plankton to the enormous blue whale, exhibit a myriad of adaptations that allow them to survive in various marine environments.

Classification and Adaptation

Marine fauna can be broadly classified into vertebrates, invertebrates, and other categories like mollusks, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Each group has unique adaptations to cope with the challenges of marine life. For instance, marine mammals like dolphins and whales have evolved streamlined bodies and powerful tails for efficient swimming.

Ecological Roles

Sea animals play diverse roles in marine ecosystems. Predators, such as sharks, maintain the balance of the food chain by controlling the population of their prey. Coral reefs, formed by tiny invertebrates, provide habitats for a plethora of marine species.

Threats and Conservation

Despite their importance, sea animals face numerous threats, including pollution, climate change, and overfishing. These anthropogenic pressures have led to drastic declines in many species’ populations. Conservation efforts, such as establishing marine protected areas and implementing sustainable fishing practices, are crucial to safeguard these creatures and the ecosystems they inhabit.

500 Words Essay on Sea Animals

Introduction: the aquatic realm.

Sea animals, or marine life, constitute a significant portion of the world’s biodiversity. They play a crucial role in maintaining the health of our planet, contributing to the carbon cycle, and providing food and livelihoods for millions of people. This essay explores the fascinating world of sea animals, their adaptations, and the challenges they face.

Adaptations of Sea Animals

Sea animals have evolved a wide range of remarkable adaptations that allow them to survive in diverse marine environments. From the shallowest tide pools to the deepest ocean trenches, marine creatures exhibit extraordinary resilience and versatility. For instance, the pressure-resistant structure of deep-sea creatures like the anglerfish or the ability of the mantis shrimp to see an array of colors that are invisible to the human eye, demonstrate the remarkable adaptability of marine life.

The Intricate Food Web

The marine food web is a complex and dynamic system, with multiple trophic levels, from the primary producers (phytoplankton) to apex predators such as sharks and orcas. Each species plays a unique role in maintaining the balance of the ecosystem. For example, sea otters control sea urchin populations, which in turn prevents kelp forests from being overgrazed. This interconnectedness underscores the importance of every species in the marine ecosystem.

Threats to Sea Animals

Conservation efforts.

Recognizing these threats, numerous conservation efforts are underway to protect sea animals and their habitats. These include the establishment of marine protected areas, efforts to reduce pollution, and sustainable fishing practices. Scientific research is also crucial, providing valuable insights into marine life and informing conservation strategies.

Conclusion: The Importance of Sea Animals

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What Is Marine Life And Its Importance? Facts & Statistics

Reading time: 8 minutes

The Earth’s oceans are home to millions of animal and plant species, as well as potentially millions more that are so far undiscovered. They are delicately balanced ecosystems and their healthy function is key to the balance of all life on Earth. Many people see marine life as something altogether separate to life on land but the two are far more connected than we might think. Crucially, the behavior and choices made by people seriously impact the wellbeing of our aquatic friends.

What Is Marine Life?

Marine life refers to all the animals, plants and organisms that live in Earth’s saltwater seas and oceans. From the smallest plankton to the largest whale, all organisms play a role in the healthy function of these amazing, complex ecosystems.

Coral Reef Ecosystems

Coral reefs are diverse, colorful and home to millions of marine species across the planet. They provide a natural barrier to the power of the ocean, protecting coastal communities from extreme weather events such as tsunamis. As food chains, they are extremely important, providing an area in which marine species can live, feed, raise their young and thrive.

Unfortunately, they are also highly vulnerable to ocean temperature change, a direct result of climate breakdown. In 2016, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef experienced a 30 percent loss of coral reef due to a nine-month marine heatwave, the largest reef loss ever recorded. The fishing of reefs has also led to species loss, as food chains are interrupted and predators cannot survive.

Some examples of the largest reef ecosystems on earth include:

• The Great Barrier Reef, Australia
• The Red Sea Reef, Egypt, Sudan and Eritrea
• New Caledonia Barrier Reef, southwest Pacific Ocean
• Florida Reef, USA
• Andros Coral Reef, the Bahamas

Ocean Fishes

There are thousands of different species of ocean fish, yet populations are continually declining as we allow commercial fleets to fish our oceans. Atlantic cod, for example, can live up to 25 years, yet their populations are now at critically low levels. Some other ocean fish include:

• Barramundis

Marine Mammals

Marine mammals are generally larger sea creatures, who live underwater but need to breathe air also. Around the world these marine mammals still lose their lives unnecessarily due to habitat loss, being caught and killed by fishing fleets (“ fishing bycatch ”), hunting and noise pollution.

• Marine mammals include:

Sea Turtles And Reptiles

Reptile life in the sea is largely made up of turtle species such as:

• Loggerhead turtles
• Hawksbill sea turtles
• Green sea turtles
• Leatherback sea turtles

All seven species of sea turtles are endangered or critically endangered with The World Wildlife Fund stating that “the single biggest threat to most sea turtles is fishing gear.”

Marine iguanas and saltwater crocodiles are also ocean-dwelling species of reptile. Reptilian life in the sea is particularly vulnerable to pollutants such as plastic, as these animals live in shallow seas and come into contact with human populations often.

Cephalopods, Crustaceans And Shellfish

Cephalopods, crustaceans and shellfish play an important role in ocean ecosystems and the marine food chains, and includes:

• Cuttlefishes

They are particularly vulnerable to increased ocean acidification, a direct result of increased human-generated greenhouse gas emissions.

Seabirds are found on coastlines, in coastal waters and far out at sea, and include species such as:

• Albatrosses
• Fish eagles

Seabirds play a vital role in marine ecosystems but populations have dropped by 70 percent since the middle of the 20th century, with campaigners saying that they are being pushed to the brink of extinction by the fishing industry. Habitat destruction and pollution also play a part.

Why Marine Life Is Important?

The oceans provide 50 percent of the world’s oxygen and they provide essential ecosystem services that allow our planet to function in a healthy way. For example, ocean currents govern our weather systems, and if they were to be interrupted, the extreme weather consequences would be drastic. The oceans can only provide these services by maintaining delicately balanced ecosystems, made up of food chains and biological systems. Human activity risks the shutdown of essential ecosystem services that we rely on to survive.

One example is coral reefs. When we fish around coral reefs, those reefs’ delicate ecosystems are damaged and often die. We then lose the essential service a coral reef provides such as protection from erosion and weather, biochemical regulation, and recreation. This is just one of the reasons why taking care of the oceans is essential for our own wellbeing.

Marine Life Facts And Statistics

• An estimated 50-70 percent of all life on Earth is found under the oceans
• Humans have explored roughly 10-20 percent of the ocean
• There are around 230,000 classified marine species, but as many as two million or more yet to be discovered
• Marine biodiversity is declining at an alarming rate. It is estimated the oceans suffered around a 50 percent species loss between 1970 and 2012

Marine Life Pollution

Humans continue to pollute the oceans, despite the huge risks to marine life and to ourselves. Marine pollution comes in many forms such as plastic pollution, acidification and oil spills.

How Does Ocean Acidification Affect Marine Life?

Ocean acidification occurs due to increases in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (due to climate warming) and it can have terrible consequences for marine life, particularly crustaceans. Higher acidity in water results in shells dissolving more quickly, which of course has a devastating impact on shellfish and other crustaceans. This can have drastic knock-on consequences for other animals who rely on them for food, and throw marine food chains and whole ecosystems out of balance..

How Do Fisheries And Seafood Affect Marine Life?

Probably the largest risk posed to marine life is the fishing industry. Vast commercial fleets trawling the oceans has been common practice for many years and sadly shows no signs of slowing. The negative impacts for marine life are huge and includes:

• Fish population crashes which impacts every species that live in the oceans. Bycatch from fishing nets results in huge biodiversity loss, including driving species to the brink of extinction.
• There is evidence to show that catching fish causes pain and is hugely distressing for those caught and those left behind.

How Does Fish Farming Affect Marine Life?

Fish farming poses various environmental and welfare risks including:

• Disease is easily spread in fish farms and too often spreads beyond the farm into the natural environment.
• Fish farms pollute waters with the chemicals needed to treat diseases caused by the appalling conditions, excess feed and concentrated fish waste. This pollution causes algal blooms, resulting in the deaths of wild fish, too.
• Wild marine animals, such as seals, are inevitably attracted to fish farms as a potential source of food, but these animals are often killed deliberately by farmers to stop them eating the valuable fish.

How Does Human-generated Noise Pollution Affect Marine Life?

Natural soundscapes in the ocean are key for healthy marine life, as animals use sound to communicate, catch food, navigate, defend themselves and attract mates. Machinery like boats, jet skis or oil drills create an unnatural barrier to marine life’s natural soundscape, and the impacts can devastating:

• Marine mammals like whales use complex songs to communicate, navigate and attract one another. If these are interrupted, they cannot enact basic natural functions and die as a consequence
• Animals can be directly stressed by unnatural noise, leading them to make poor decisions that can lead to their deaths

Other Forms Of Pollution?

Plastic pollution is the other major form of marine pollution that affects marine life:

• Plastic waste can entrap marine animals resulting in them drowning, starving or being eaten
• Soft plastics and microplastics can be ingested by marine life and cause their deaths
• Plastic pollution kills 100 million marine mammals and up to a million seabirds every year
• Most plastic pollution comes from the fishing industry

How Can We Save Marine Life?

Put simply, we can save marine life by leaving the oceans alone and letting their ecosystems operate naturally. These systems have developed over millions of years of evolution and they can only operate without our intrusion.

We can reduce our impact on marine life in a few ways:

• Go vegan. Stopping consumption of marine animals is the single biggest way to help the oceans. It would stop overfishing and bycatch, returning fish populations to healthy levels. It would also reduce noise pollution from fishing vessels, reduce oil spills and plastic pollution from fishing fleets, and lower carbon dioxide levels, thereby reducing ocean acidification
• Reduce our consumption of all unnecessary products and buy local as much as we can – global shipping networks create noise and chemical pollution in the oceans, which directly affects marine life
• Reduce our reliance on plastics, stop buying single-use plastic items, and recycle plastic waste effectively, so that it never ends up in the ocean
• Raise awareness of the issues – watch and share documentaries such as Seaspiracy to alert others of the need to save marine life

Healthy marine life is critical to the healthy function of the whole planet and to the lives of all those who inhabit it. Without healthy balanced oceans, many of our essential ecosystem services would collapse, resulting in terrible knock-on effects for humans and animals alike. But that is not the only reason to protect marine life. We should protect them for their own sake. The lives of marine animals are as important to them as ours are to us. They are here on Earth with us, not for us.

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Short Essay & Paragraph On Sea For Kids Students

The sea has always provided an endless supply of food and wealth. It covers roughly three-quarters of the earth’s surface and has largely untapped resources.

Table of Contents

Short Paragraph about Sea For Kids Students

At least 100 million metric tones of fish are thought to be in the sea, worth trillions of dollars each year. Many countries rely heavily on fishing as a source of revenue.

Other valuable minerals, as well as energy like oil and natural gas, can be found in the seas. They also provide us with medicines, salt, drinking and irrigation water, beautiful pearls, and much else to enjoy, exploit, or account for. Man may one day derive power from the waves that lash our shores.

The sea, in addition to its material benefits, provides spiritual lift to men through its beauty. In comparison to its vastness, it reminds us of our insignificance. At the same time, it prepares us to face life’s challenges with courage by constantly calling forth men willing to risk their lives at sea for food, wealth, or adventure in each generation.

500 Essay on Sea

The sea is a vast and mysterious body of water that covers over 70% of the Earth’s surface. It is a vital part of our planet’s ecosystem, providing food, recreation, and transportation for people all over the world.

One of the most striking features of the sea is its size. The ocean is so vast that it can be difficult to grasp just how big it is. The average depth of the ocean is around 12,000 feet, and it covers an area of over 140 million square miles. This means that the sea is larger than all of the land on Earth combined.

Another important aspect of the sea is its role in the Earth’s climate. The ocean plays a crucial role in regulating the planet’s temperature by absorbing and releasing heat. It also acts as a massive carbon sink, absorbing a significant amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This helps to slow down the process of global warming, which is a major concern for scientists and policymakers around the world.

The sea is also home to an incredible diversity of life. There are an estimated 230,000 known species of marine animals, with many more yet to be discovered. These creatures range from tiny plankton to massive whales, and they play important roles in the ocean’s ecosystem. For example, small creatures like plankton form the base of the ocean’s food chain, while larger animals like sharks and tuna help to keep populations of smaller fish in check.

The sea also has a long and rich history of human interaction. People have been using the ocean for transportation, food, and trade for thousands of years. The sea has played a vital role in the development of human civilization, and today it continues to be a major source of economic activity. For example, fishing and tourism are both major industries that rely heavily on the sea.

Despite its many benefits, the sea is also facing a number of serious threats . Pollution, over fishing, and climate change are all taking a toll on the health of the ocean. In order to protect this vital resource for future generations, it is important that we take steps to reduce our impact on the sea. This includes reducing our carbon emissions, protecting marine habitats, and limiting the amount of pollution that we release into the ocean.

In conclusion, the sea is an awe-inspiring and important part of our planet, with a unique physical characteristics, plays a vital role in regulating the Earth’s climate, home to an incredible diversity of life and a long and rich history of human interaction. It is essential for us to take steps to protect this vital resource for future generations and to reduce the negative impact we have on it.

200 Words Essay on Sea Turtle

Sea turtles are one of the most ancient creatures on Earth, with a history that dates back to the time of the dinosaurs. They are also one of the most endangered animals in the world, with all seven species facing varying degrees of threat.

One of the most distinctive features of sea turtles is their hard shells, which protect them from predators and provide buoyancy while swimming. They have flippers instead of legs, which allow them to move quickly and gracefully through the water. Sea turtles are also known for their long lifespans, with some species living over 100 years.

Sea turtles play an important role in maintaining the balance of marine ecosystems. They help to control the population of jellyfish and other small sea creatures by eating them. They also play a role in the food chain, serving as prey for larger animals like sharks and crocodiles.

Despite their ecological importance, sea turtles are facing numerous threats. The biggest threat to sea turtles is habitat loss and degradation. Many beaches where sea turtles lay their eggs have been developed for human use, making it difficult for the turtles to find suitable nesting sites. Pollution is also a major problem for sea turtles, as they often mistake plastic debris for food and ingest it, which can lead to injury or death.

Another significant threat is the illegal harvesting of sea turtle eggs, which has led to a decline in sea turtle populations in many areas. Illegal hunting of sea turtles for their meat and shells is also a problem in some countries.

Conservation efforts have been put in place to help protect sea turtles. These include protecting nesting beaches, reducing pollution, and enforcing laws against hunting and egg harvesting. Programs have been implemented to protect and conserve sea turtle populations.

In conclusion, sea turtles are ancient and endangered creatures that play an important role in maintaining the balance of marine ecosystems. They are facing numerous threats, including habitat loss, pollution, and hunting. Conservation efforts such as protecting nesting beaches, reducing pollution, and enforcing laws against hunting and egg harvesting are in place to help protect sea turtle populations. It’s important for all of us to do our part in protecting these amazing animals and their habitat for future generations.

5 Sentences about Sea

1. The sea is a vast body of salty water that covers the majority of the Earth’s surface. 2. The sea is home to millions of species of plants and animals, many of which are still undiscovered. 3. The sea has been an important source of food and resources for humans for thousands of years. 4. The sea is also a major source of transportation for goods and people, with ships and submarines being used to cross the vast distances between land masses. 5. The sea can be dangerous, with storms, currents, and tides that can endanger those who venture too far from the safety of land. 6. The sea is also a beautiful and mysterious place, with its never-ending depths and its many wonders waiting to be discovered.

Hello! Welcome to my Blog StudyParagraphs.co. My name is Angelina. I am a college professor. I love reading writing for kids students. This blog is full with valuable knowledge for all class students. Thank you for reading my articles.

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Hillary Clinton to release essay collection about personal and public life

Hillel Italie

Associated Press

This cover image released by Simon & Schuster shows "Something Lost, Something Gained: Reflections on Life, Love and Liberty by Hillary Rodham Clinton. The book will be released Sept. 17. (Simon & Schuster via AP)

Hillary Clinton’s next book is a collection of essays, touching upon everything from marriage to politics to faith, that her publisher is calling her most personal yet.

Simon and Schuster announced Tuesday that Clinton’s “Something Lost, Something Gained: Reflections on Life, Love and Liberty” will be released Sept. 17.

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Among the topics she will cover: Her marriage to former President Bill Clinton, her Methodist faith, adjusting to private life after her failed presidential runs, her friendships with other first ladies and her takes on climate change, democracy and Vladimir Putin.

“The book reads like you’re sitting down with your smartest, funniest, most passionate friend over a long meal,” Clinton’s editor, Priscilla Painton, said in a statement.

“This is the Hillary Americans have come to know and love: candid, engaged, humorous, self-deprecating — and always learning.”

Clinton, the former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary and presidential candidate, will promote her book with a cross country tour. “Something Lost, Something Gained” comes out two months before Bill Clinton’s memoir about post-presidential life, “Citizen.”

Financial terms were not disclosed. Clinton was represented by Washington attorney Robert Barnett, whose other clients have included former President George W. Bush and former President Barack Obama.

Clinton’s previous books include such bestsellers as “It Takes a Village,” “Living History” and “What Happened.”

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.