The Importance of Keeping the Oceans Clean

Our food, temperature, and the majority of our oxygen supply all come from the ocean. Along with supporting industries like tourism, fishing, and international shipping, they also act as the cornerstone of a significant portion of the global economy. In addition to minerals and renewable energy sources, they offer food, medications, and healthcare. Fishing, seafood, recreation, and science are all supported by their employment. The first “super-highway” connecting economies and moving people and products across the world was our oceans. The fact is that without the seas, humans cannot survive on the earth since they offer everything we need to survive. In fact, phytoplankton in the oceans generates almost 70 percent of the oxygen in the atmosphere, and since 1950, their population has decreased by 40 percent.

What causes suffocation in the ocean? All marine debris is man-made, with the bulk coming from soil and infiltrating the oceans and Great Lakes as a result of littering, ineffective waste disposal, stormwater runoff discharge, and extreme weather events like hurricanes and tsunamis. By 2050, there may be more garbage than fish in the oceans as the volume of ocean pollution is predicted to dramatically increase in the coming fifteen years. Floating on the ocean’s surface are enormous islands made of plastic, and even in the Arctic, beaches are becoming more and more strewn with the material.

The ocean’s capacity to slow down climate change is frequently disregarded. It is possible to store the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide up to four times more effectively than terrestrial forests by conserving and regenerating ocean habitats including seagrass beds, salt marshes, including mangrove, as well as the food webs that they support. Absence of ocean preservation will not only hasten climate change but may also affect our ability to withstand its effects. For instance, coral reefs offer crucial shelter from storm surges to coastal towns. However, factors like overfishing, pollution, and climate change have already accelerated their extinction.

What naturally purifies the ocean? According to a recent study, trash can be found inside seagrass Neptune balls. Millions of microscopic particles of marine plastic may be caught in Neptune balls, which are naturally occurring fiber balls, by underwater seagrass. Some coastal clean-up organizations will require roughly ten full-size systems to be cleaned up, according to modeling. While other environmental groups expect to be able to eliminate 90 percent of the floating ocean plastic when fleets of devices have been deployed into each ocean gyre together with source reduction.

What can nations do to lessen ocean pollution? For instance, enhancing wastewater management at a regional or city level can lessen the amount of plastic that makes its way into the ocean while simultaneously cutting leaching of nutrients, which in turn enhances the sustainability of fish and coral reefs.

Take needless single-use plastics out of your everyday routine to reduce your effect. Even doing away with straws might significantly reduce ocean trash. We could prevent over 1.5 billion straws from ending up in landfills and our oceans if every American used just five less straws annually. Regardless of where you reside, the quickest and most straightforward approach to get started is to cut back on your own consumption of single-use plastics. Single-use plastics include bags, bottles of water, straws, cups, cutlery, dry cleaning bags, food wrappers, and any other plastic products that are used only once before being thrown away.