Know Your Marine Life?

Marine Protected Areas are places where there is some level of protection in place and enforced for marine animals and ecosystems, such as coral reefs and turtle nesting sites. As of February 2009, there are approximately 5000 marine protected areas worldwide, yet only about 0.8% of the world's oceans are included in these areas. With the damage currently being done to coastal ecosystems, coral reefs, and breeding grounds for threatened and endangered species, we need to see protected areas expand so that these vital parts of marine life can recover.

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Oceans of Change: Protecting the Planet's Life Support System
How Better Conservation Measures Can Help Reduce Poverty
Record Setting 195,000 Square Miles of Pacific Ocean Protected by Bush Administration
California's Marine Life Protection Act in Action: A Sheltered Sea

Shark finning is responsible for the death of a jaw-dropping 40 million sharks every year. It is the practice of catching sharks, cutting off their fins, and dumping the rest of the carcass back into the ocean, wasting it. Many species have had 95% of their populations decimated since the 1970s.

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How Many Sharks Get Killed for their Fins Every Year?
9 Shark Attack Survivors Lobby Congress to Protect the Predators
Bycatch Incidents and Fin Soup are Wiping Out Shark Populations Worldwide

Coral reefs are miniscule when looking at the entire ocean, yet maintain one quarter of our marine life. Loosing them would be catastrophic. Yet, according to the Coral Reef Alliance, 11% of the world?s coral reefs have been lost and another 16% were severely damaged during the 1998 El Niño event. Scientists predict that another 32% may be lost in the next thirty years if human threats are not reduced.

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Green Glossary: Coral Reefs
Caribbean Coral Reefs 'Flattened' Over the Past 40 Years
6 Steps to Saving the World's Coral Reefs
Coral Reef Loss in Southeast Asia to Reduce Food Supplies 80%: Strong International Action Needed

When pollutants like sewage and agricultural runoff enter the ocean, they cause harmful algae blooms. When the blooms die off, oxygen is used to decompose the algae and it isn't replenished at a high enough rate for marine life to continue living there. Animals either leave the area or die.

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Climate Change Causing Ocean Dead Zones to Grow
Tropical Dead Zones Set to Expand by 50 Percent Under Climate Change
Ocean "Dead Zones" Increasing: 400 Oxygen-Deprived Areas Now Exist
Crop Biodiversity A Cure for Ocean Dead Zones?

Aquariums can be very helpful to the environment, especially when they are the sites for conservation-oriented scientific research such as the New England or Monterey Bay aquariums. By housing rare and endangered animals and studying marine life, aquariums help to improve our understanding of, and therefore protection of marine life.

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7 Amazing Eco-Oriented Aquariums to Visit for Green Family Fun
Monterey Bay Aquarium's Endangered Seafood Guide
Untravel, Take a Staycation at the New England Aquarium

Even worse than the notoriously polluted rivers in Asia, the mouth of the Mississippi River was found by UC Santa Barbara scientists to be the world's grossest ecosystem. It's no wonder--agricultural runoff has been the cause of a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico year after year. Filthy coastal ecosystems affect marine life both close to the shore and farther out in the water.

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Shocker! World's Dirtiest Coastal Ecosystem Revealed...and It's in the USA
Coastal Habitats Deemed Planet's Most Imperiled Ecosystems

Jellyfish are benefiting from humans overfishing the oceans because they have fewer predators and less competition for food sources. In fact, as we continue to destroy the oceans, jellyfish are still flourishing. But that is not good for anything except the jellyfish.

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Barbarians at the Gates: Jellyfish Are Taking Over the Oceans
Giant Jellyfish Invade Japan's Waters
NSF Reports on Jellyfish Gone Wild

As the pH balance of the ocean changes, scientists are finding that seashells are dissolving, which can cause the animals to die off as they expend too much energy trying to continuously grow their shells. This impacts everything with shells, from sea urchins to corals.

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Ocean Acidification: 100 Years in the Future
Increasingly Acidified Waters Could Prompt Mass Shellfish Dissolution

Leatherbacks are known for their long migration patterns. In fact, in January 2008, a leatherback made the record for one of the longest migrations for any vertebrate, traveling 12,774 miles over 647 days.

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Tens of Thousands of Leatherback Turtles Nest on Gabonese Coast

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, large whales (the commercially important ones) have for the most part responded well under protection. As the IUCN weighs the pros and cons of implementing a total ban on whaling, taking a look at how whales have fared better with restrictions and bans on hunting will hopefully factor in.

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Whale Hunting Ban Effective
Save the Whales. Seriously: These 3 Websites Can Help
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