From the Director

Ocean Crisis Escalates Part 1

The crisis in the ocean is rapidly escalating, multiple stressors are converging, and their cumulative impacts are threatening a globally significant marine extinction within a generation if human activities do not radically change.

In 2009, in response to mounting signs of distress, I invited leading ocean scientists Dr. Sylvia Earle, David Gallo, David Guggenheim, and Nancy Knowlton to participate in a series of State of the Oceans Forums at the international Explorers Club in New York. We voiced our collective concerns about the negative trends – the collapse of global fisheries, chemical and sewage pollution, gyres filled with plastics, increasing coastal dead zones, CO2 emissions, warming and acidification, loss of corals, and marine mammal die-offs. We issued an urgent Call to Action:

“It is clear that human activities are altering ocean ecosystems beyond a point of return. We urgently need to prevent further ocean degradation and reverse the damage before it is too late. We have less than 10 years to save living oceans.”

In June, 2011, an international coalition of marine scientists confirmed our worst fears – the combined effects of pollution, overfishing, and climate change are overwhelming the oceans’ natural resilience.  We could be facing the end of the oceans during our lifetime and time is running out. Convened by the International Program on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the coalition reported to the United Nations: 

“Ocean degradation is now happening at a faster rate than predicted. The speeds of many negative changes to the ocean are already worst case scenarios. We now face losing marine species and entire marine ecosystems within a single generation.”      

Among the ominous signs of stress, the oceans are getting warmer and more acidic as they absorb human-generated carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Since the birth of the industrial revolution we've added about 500 billion metric tons of CO2 to the oceans, which are 30 percent more acidic than they were 200 years ago.  The oceans are also becoming more toxic from the billions of tons of man-made pollutants, plastics, metals, and pharmaceuticals we release to the sea annually -- and climate change is exacerbating the toxicity.

Blueprint for Change

The reality is, tremendous change must occur and quickly, to halt the oceans’ decline.  Citizens and governments worldwide must radically change the ways in which our oceans are managed, governed, and protected.

“Human interactions with the ocean must change… And this has to be part of a wider re-evaluation of the core values of human society and its relationship to the natural world and the resources on which we all rely.” –IPSO Report

Renowned marine ecologist Dr. Jeremy Jackson outlined the dire consequences of inaction in his recent lecture at MERI, Brave New Ocean:

“Unless we make radical societal changes, we are looking at increased sea surface temperature (up to 3 degrees Celsius), the loss of most coral reefs, extinction of most commercial fish species, anoxia in the deep ocean, acidification and the decline of most calcified organisms, expanding dead zones around continents, and coastal waters that are too toxic for aquaculture.”

The solutions to the crisis include immediate reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, control of pollution, a network of marine protected areas, and a way to protect ocean life that goes beyond national jurisdictions. To succeed will not only require unprecedented cooperation between nations and international government bodies-- it will take political will and pressure from informed citizens and policymakers to drive change in the face of opposing political and economic interests.

Saving the Oceans: What Must Happen Immediately reduce CO2 emissions and mitigate atmospheric CO2 Reduce fishing effort, close unmanaged fisheries Establish a global network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) Prevent, reduce, and strictly control inputs of toxic substances and nutrients into the ocean Replace toxics in commerce with safe alternatives Stringently regulate oil, gas, mineral extraction industries Foster and invest in clean energy, renewable energy technology Assess, monitor, and control other uses (e.g., renewable energy, cable/pipeline installation) Implement the precautionary principle by reversing the burden of proof of harm for activities Strengthen protection of the 64% of the ocean that lies beyond the zones of national jurisdiction

Read Ocean in Crisis Part II: Healing Our Toxic Seas
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