Oceans of Change: Protecting the Planet's Life Support System
Treehugger: A Discovery Company
06/08/2009
This year’s World Oceans Day has the theme “one ocean, one climate, one future.” This couldn’t be a more timely focus. With so much attention on the climate change impacts we can see from land, the drastic changes occurring beneath the waves often go unnoticed. But the Great Barrier Reef is unraveling a tale we need to listen to.
Coral Reefs at Risk
As a marine biologist and avid diver, I’ve been fortunate to log thousands of hours underwater to study Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. And when considering climate change and the oceans, coral reefs are like the canary in the coal mine.
Warmer water temperatures and ocean acidification – both caused by more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and seawater – are killing coral ecosystems at a much faster rate than we expected. We’ve already lost 40 to 50 percent of the coral in the Western Pacific and South-East Asian reefs. The world’s coral could die within our lifetime, and with them, thousands of species of fish and molluscs living there -- the daily protein for an estimated 100 million people on tropical coasts.
Getting Results with Conservation Efforts
The oceans are like the Earth's life-support system, providing food, regulating our atmosphere and shaping our coastal environments. We can’t afford to ignore the threats the oceans face.
So, what to do about it?
For one, we can help our oceans withstand the changes already happening. One way to do this is to protect the biodiversity and balance of ecosystems by setting aside key areas for conservation in marine protected areas.
Australia tried this approach more than 30 years ago, and the results are here for everyone to see: more and bigger fish. Australian fishermen will tell you that it was tough for the first few years, since fishing is limited inside these reserves. But now that fish are repopulating areas outside the reserves, the local fishing and tourism industries are big supporters. We all benefit from a healthier ocean.
Marine protected areas can also make ecosystems more resilient to storms and other environmental stresses and -- amazingly -- the impacts of climate change.
I was part of a team of scientists that showed that bleached coral reefs -- damaged because of warmer waters -- recover three times faster in areas with healthy populations of parrotfish, which eat seaweed and prevent it from overwhelming sick and dying coral.
This is just one small example to illustrate the power, and importance, of marine protected areas. The web of ocean life has many connections and dependencies. We can’t begin to understand all of them, but we can use what we do know to act now and prepare for the future.
And we know this: Given the chance, nature can bounce back surprisingly quickly.
