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| A bottlenose dolphin at Mount Edgecumbe in Torpoint, near Plymouth, February 2015 (credit to my dad, John Lucock, for this!) |
More Than A Fishy Matter...
... It Affects You As Well!
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| Snakelocks anemones in a rockpool on Mount Batten in Plymouth (January 2015) |
Anyone who knows me on a personal level will know that I adore the ocean. I love to talk about sea animals, find it relaxing to be around the sea, my uni room is decorated with beach-themed items, marble dolphins, sharks and seals, and wooden seabirds. My favourite memories include watching dolphins and seals playing around Devon and Cornwall (and Dave the dolphin who used to live in Folkestone), seeing basking sharks up close (though sadly I haven't seen any for about five years!), witnessing a minke whale glide through the waves closely to the ferry taking us to the Scilly Isles, poking around in rockpools (still do!) and spending hours drawing killer whales. As a girl who grew up in Dover and now spends nine months of the year living in Plymouth, Britain's "Ocean City", I have an attachment to the sea, and it would be a dream come true to work in shark conservation. Yet I know, through the research I have done both out of interest and for uni work, that our oceans are certainly no Utopia. But now we know that they're in more trouble than what we feared.
Yesterday (16th September 2015) I was browsing through my Facebook feed, as you do. I follow a lot of conservation bodies, including oceanic ones, and there was one thing that struck me. Not by surprise, because, really, as a cynical environmental scientist, I kind of guessed that something like this had happened (so unfortunately it wasn't a shocking statistic). What struck me was that, despite it being published on a lot of marine conservation charity pages, you didn't see it on the BBC news that night, or any main news channel, and you probably won't. And that's what's most worrying, because this is major, but is somehow not important enough to report to the general public (which it is!). But without further ado, because, again, I will try to keep my political opinions to myself...
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| Ocean sunfish (juvenile) in Penzance, June 2015 |
A new study by WWF and ZSL has found that 49% of marine creatures have disappeared since 1970.
This is big.
This is major.
This is TERRIFYING.
So, why aren't we doing more?
"Well, so what?" I can hear a few of you say. "So what, it doesn't affect me! It's not a human issue!"
Well, as with all wildlife conservation and environmental issues, IT DOES, and this one is just as important as melting ice caps, disappearing rainforests and everything else. This is serious. I know I only did a thing on sharks the other day, but this new report is so terrifying that it does need discussing- and how you can do your bit to help this urgent matter.
The Deal About The Ocean...
...It's kind of a big deal...
Just some stats for you...
Just like the forests, oceans are responsible for the air that you breathe and take for granted. Phytoplankton are tiny photosynthetic beings that live in all oceans (even the polar seas, which are nutrient rich and give out massive blooms in the summer months). As they photosynthesise, they draw in CO2 and give out the oxygen that we need to survive. In fact, oceans are responsible for more than half of the oxygen we breathe, making them an even bigger source of oxygen than all of the rainforests combined and the planet's number one source of oxygen. Oceans also take in more CO2 than the rainforests- more about that in a bit.
Additionally, the Earth covers two thirds of the surface of this little rock, but provides 99% of the living space.
Fish is the primary source of protein for over 1 billion people, and coastal regions are home to some 3 in 5 people globally. Oceans provide these citizens with recreation, food, tourism, jobs and industry.
$9.6billion- the amount of global GDP generated by tourism to coral reefs; fisheries from reefs are worth $5.7billion. They are also worth billions as natural flood defences; areas that have already all but lost their coral reefs tend to get flooded more often and with more devastating consequences than areas that still have their reefs.
100,000,000 tonnes- that's how much fish is estimated to be consumed around the world every year, not including fish that is used for agriculture and the aquarium trades
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| Loggerhead turtle in the National Marine Aquarium (February 2015). This species is Endangered. |
100,000,000 sharks- the amount of sharks thought to be killed by humans every year through a variety of factors (and is often the lower bound estimate- some sources say it could be 2.7 times higher)
Less than 2%- the amount of ocean that is protected internationally- compared to over 10% on land
90%- the amount of large fish (tuna, sharks, cod, flounder, etc) that have been removed from the oceans
6 out of 7- the number of species of sea turtle considered to be threatened with extinction (the seventh, the flatback, doesn't have enough data on its population)
What's Going On?
Overfishing This is the most obvious one. It's frightening when you see just how much fish is being removed from our oceans, how many sharks are being killed (73 million end up dead just for the wasteful sharkfin soup industry, where the shark has its fins removed while often still alive and then discarded and the rest of the body wasted) and how many end up dead through ghost fishing...
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| Moon jellies... Beautiful, but their recent huge numbers are symptoms of a very sick ocean indeed (NMA, September 2015) |
Ghost fishing This term refers to casualties from discarded and abandoned fishing gear (think industrial sized gill nets, etc), and this is DEADLY, and the scale is terrifying. Everything from diving sea birds to turtles to whales and everything in between gets caught in them, and it's not pleasant to think about how painful their deaths must be.
Plastic Not really fantastic... It's not good for the sea creatures, and it's most certainly not good for you! Plastic is easily mistaken for fish and jellyfish, so it ends up in the stomachs of unsuspecting fish, turtles and whales. This then breaks down and is passed down into our own bodies when we eat seafood. Same goes for microbeads, which are now even found in plankton, arguably the primary producer for the whole planet, so this should be setting alarm bells louder than they are.
Agriculture It's hard to imagine how agriculture can affect the oceans, but it really can. I remember a lecture where the lecturer was talking about "Marine Dead Zones", and there are hundreds of them (the most famous one being the Gulf of Mexico). The number of MDZs doubles every decade, and it comes from the Nitrogen and Phosphorus run-offs from agriculture which eventually end up in the oceans. The unusually nutrient-rich water stimulates an over-growth in phytoplankton, which then dies and decomposes, using up precious oxygen in huge quantities, meaning that other animals suffocate.
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| Eider duck, a coastal species, in Looe, Cornwall (March 2015) |
Climate Change This is definitely happening, and we are at least partly responsible! As the seas warm, the coral reefs are dying off (there is a narrow temperature range that they can tolerate). Species are moving further North to cooler waters, as we are seeing here in the UK.
Ocean Acidification Sort of hand-in-hand with climate change is the drop in pH of coastal regions. As CO2 levels increase, so does the amount absorbed by the oceans. The CO2 then eventually turns into carbonic acid, which breaks down the delicate shells of sea creatures and the exoskeletons of corals. Since the Industrial Revolution, the pH of the oceans has fallen by 0.1 units. This may not sound like much at all, and some may question why this is noteworthy; since pH is a logarithmic scale, this means that the acidity of the ocean has actually increased by 30%!
And the jellyfish boom of recent years...?
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| White-spotted jellyfish, NMA, September 2015 |
Yes, jellyfish are beautiful.
Yes, jellyfish are relaxing to look at.
Yes, I do love jellyfish.
However...
Their booming numbers are a symptom of a very sick ocean.
- There are far fewer predators that can keep their numbers in check
- Warmer waters benefit them
- So do the extra nutrients
- As their numbers increase, fishermen will lose out even more as their target catch will decrease
- Fish numbers will also decrease as jellyfish prey includes fish eggs
There is no emphasising how vital our oceans are.
Oxygen. Climate. Flood defence. Food. Industry. Recreation.
We owe the oceans a lot.
It is the life support of the planet. Without it, we don't have a chance.
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| Everything about Plymouth depends on the sea. Its fishing, naval base, tourism, diving to Eddystone reef, history, its very existence, are owed to the sea! (picture taken November 2014) |
So how can I help?
It's true that the oceans are in so much trouble that it'll take a heck of a lot of people to do their bit to make conservationists' lives easier. However, there are a simple few things you CAN do to do your bit, and it is of utmost importance that you pass this on.. Say no to a plastic bag. If you can't, reuse it and don't throw it away after one use. Certainly don't discard it on the ground or in the beaches. It will eventually find its way to the sea.
. Do a beach clean and for goodness sake, take your rubbish home with you! All that crap that people drop on the beaches will end up swallowed by some unfortunate sea creature
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| Just a tiny little portion of a 10 minute beach clean done by my friend and I in January 2015 on Dover beach |
. Be very careful about eating fish. I'm not being a preachy vegetarian here. If you still eat fish, please- make sure it's sustainably caught. I have linked this many times, and here it is again. Here is the Marine Conservation Society's sustainable fish guide.
. Don't litter. Ever.
. Be careful with aquarium fish, never buy unless you're 100% absolutely dead certain that the fish in question didn't come from the wild.
. Be aware of your CO2 levels! If you can walk it, walk. Turn the lights out when they're not needed.
. Never buy "ocean gifts" that are made from real sea creatures! Tortoiseshell is normally made from the shells of the Critically Endangered hawksbill turtle. Don't buy corals or shark products, either. Basically be savvy!
. Speak out for oceans- this is crucial to spread the message! If the BBC News won't report it, we will!
THANK YOU- WE WILL SAVE THE OCEANS TOGETHER!
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| Oystercatcher on Mount Batten, Plymouth, March 2015 |
