Marine Life Predicament

A meeting of 27 marine scientists from 18 different organizations met at Oxford University in England in April of 2011 and examined the future of marine life. The panel predicted that we are facing a mass extinction in a scale larger than any previous one. According to them, the five past mass extinctions in history were most likely caused by the combination of global warming, ocean acidification, and hypoxia. All three of these threats are present currently, with their consequences beginning to evidence themselves.

Global warming affects the environment on land and in the ocean. With coral bleaching, a rising sea level, and warmer water temperatures, the habitats of marine species are being destroyed. The advanced coral bleaching in 1998 killed 16% of the world's tropical coral reefs, which has destroyed the homes of numerous fish and marine life species. Many animals are simply unable to adapt to the warmer ocean temperatures and changing conditions.

Human interference as well is posing a serious threat to marine ecosystems. Overfishing, when the amount of fish caught exceeds sustainable levels in a given area, is reported to have reduced some species by more than 90%. As one species faces extinction, this effect trickles through the food chain. Particularly, factory fishing uses industrial fleets to target one species at a time. Once a species is near extinction, a second species is targeted. The effects are devastating and unsustainable for maintaining a stable marine ecosystem. Whaling is generally thought to have ended in the 1980's, but the threat to whales still remains. Japan claims to be conducting scientific research in order to justify killing around 850 minke whales every year. The country has announced further plans to expand this supposed research to include 50 endangered humpback whales and 50 fin whales each year as well. Fishing nets catch 300,000 whales, dolphins, and porpoises on accident every year, which greatly affects their populations. Bottom trawling as well is a fishing technique that destroys the deep-sea habitats when metal chains are dragged through the largely undiscovered deep-sea coral forests.

Marine species are finally suffering from the years of ocean pollution. The oceans have been used as a dumping ground for pesticides, sewage, and industrial discharge. Oil spills, radioactive discharges, and other accidents as well have widely damaged the environment of these animals. If these practices are not stopped, then our ocean faces a mass extinction sooner than once thought. In the past, mass extinctions were spurred by disturbances in the carbon cycle. However, the current disturbances to the carbon cycle are so great that it is not even on a comparable level to past changes. Not to mention all of the pollution, global warming, and human influences that was largely absent in past global extinctions. Scientists warn that something must be done to protect the ecosystems of these marine animals immediately. Humans depend upon the weather systems, oxygen production, and general resources of the ocean. Without these resources, all species on Earth face the great danger of an unstable and unsustainable environment.