The oceans cover more than two-thirds of the entire surface of The Earth, so that their state and conservation are essential to the sustainability of our planet. Despite the enormous importance of the oceans, these are under many threats that endanger the survival of thousands of species of marine life. Some of these threats will materialize in the form with overfishing, the progressive loss of biodiversity, or the contamination of ocean.
Pollution of the oceans
According to WWF, more than 70% of the pollution of the seas and oceans comes from land-based activities, from microplásticos, pesticides, or discharges of various types of waste contaminants. Around 200 tonnes of plastic end up annually in oceans around the world, the majority of them are not visible on the surface, but that end up forming part of what we call microplásticos. The microplásticos are small pieces of plastic of about 5 mm in diameter which are dispersed and are found in large amounts in the seas and oceans, in addition to the land surfaces.
The oil spills are a major threat, in terms of pollution of the oceans. This fuel ends up many times in the sea, as a result of spills or leaks, involuntary vessels that transport crude oil from one place to another, but these discharges also reach the sea by the drains of the cities, which represents a flow of pollution very abundant.
Another of the threats facing the oceans are the discharges of fertilizers from farms or farms. These discharges produce a phenomenon known as eutrophication, which occurs when the sea presents additional nutrients (those that come from fertilizers) and cause the flowering mass of algae, which leads to deoxygenation of the oceans. With the decrease of the oxygen, the marine fauna is threatened, and eventually disappear, as has happened recently in the Mar Menor.
Overfishing and exploitation of the oceans
The scientific community has been unanimous in warning about the serious consequences of overfishing poses to our oceans and coasts. When we speak of overfishing, we refer to the extraction of fauna and flora of the sea at a rate that is too high for these species can be repopulated in a natural way.
From half of the TWENTIETH century, many countries of the world began to invest large amounts of money to grow its fishing capacity, with the purpose of improving the availability and obtain lower fish products to ensure their accessibility to the consumers. However, these large fleets ended up practicing a fishing which can be considered as aggressive, making use of sophisticated methods, to the couple that overwhelming, to extract each time more fish in lower time frames.
The practice of indiscriminate fishing has affected large populations of marine wildlife, but also flora ocean. For example, coral reefs are highly vulnerable to overfishing. According to National Geographic, the fish that feed on plants are the ones that manage to keep the balance of the ecosystem, eating algae and maintaining the healthy corals and clean. The massive fishing of these fish herbivores decrease the population, so that results in the gradual destruction of the reefs, which makes them more susceptible to processes such as pollution or climate change.
Also some types of fishing, such as trawling, can destroy the corals when they are severely weakened. This type of fishing is characterised by launching major networks of the sea to capture the catch of the day, however, these networks lay waste to everything in its path, so that in addition to substantially decrease the population of the fish lens, also affecting the rest of the fauna of the oceans. For example, it is common that these networks also drag sea turtles, dolphins, sea birds and even sharks.
Can we stop this?
The Sustainable Development Goal 14: life underwater, it particularly focuses on the care and preservation of the oceans. As they point to the United Nations: “to Protect our oceans must remain a priority. The marine biodiversity is vital to the health of people and our planet. Marine protected areas must be managed effectively, as their resources, and should be put in place regulations that reduce over-fishing or marine pollution”.
Fight against the pollution of the waters of the oceans and overfishing passes through the awareness of governments and institutions of all countries of the world. End these harmful practices requires a serious proposal international regulations regulatory prohibit and criminalize, pollution, indiscriminate of the waters and overfishing of marine species.
