Saving our Living Seas

It's great to be on board. So, you have some questions?

Whether rich in resources or not, all people everywhere are dependent on the ocean for much that we take for granted. Those who derive food from the sea to feed their families, their communities, have done so successfully for long periods of time in many parts of the world, largely because there is an understanding about the need to protect the source of what is consumed. Today, too many people are taking too many fish from the sea -- more than the natural systems can replenish. Most of the problem derives from large scale global luxury markets supplied by industrial fishing operations. Just offshore from coastal communities that are totally reliant on food from the sea, fleets of large vessels are unsustainably extracting wildlife that could provide sustenance for coastal people. The swift, sharp decline of ocean wildlife worldwide has come about largely owing to the large industrial operations that not only take more than can be renewed, but also gather large quantities on non-targeted species -- bycatch -- and have a heavy impact on the ecosystem as well. Reduction in the industrial-scale fishing will greatly improve the possibilities for sustainable use of wildlife by indigenous
consumers. Even for local use, though, it is necessary to realize that if there are to be fish or other wildlife to take, there must be protection for nesting areas, feeding areas, nurseries -- and there must be limits on how many of what kind of creatures are extracted -- if sustainbility is the goal.

I worry much less about the impact of divers when they are swimming on coral reefs than I do when those same divers are dining at nearby restaurants -- ordering the local seafood. It is jarring to come up from a dive where you have been face-to-face with parrotfish, grouper, snapper, lobsters, and other wondrous sea creatures, then sotop by for a snack and see the same species swimming with lemon slices and butter. I think every diver is a potential ambassador for the ocean and for the wildlife there. Most divers -- especially those who have been around long enough to witness the changes caused by extraction of wildlife from their favorite dive sites -- are very careful about not bumping into coral or otherwise causing harm. Spearfishing once was much more popular than it is today. Rather, people tend to go armed with cameras and vie for the best images -- not for the biggest chunk of dead fish.

High seas bottom trawling is certainly one of the most pressing problems. You are not alone in not knowing about the large fleets of vessels not beginning to use draggers -- bottom trawls -- on newly-discovered mountains in the ocean. If people were aware of the real cost of orange roughy -- one of the targeted species -- they might think twice before eating them. Like many deep sea species, orange roughy mature slowly, live a long time, and do not readily recover after their deep sea habitats have been destroyed. Trawling the ocean floor for deep sea fish is comparable to using bulldozers in a forest to capture songbirds or squirrels. In this case, the "forest" is composed of ancient trees of coral, sponges and numerous other creatures that are sacrificed for the commercially valuable species.

I do not know of studies that consider this possibility, but it is something to think about. Actually, few people are aware of what kind of fish they are eating, let alone where it came from or what, in turn, that fish may have been consuming. "Fish sandwiches," "fish and chips," "catch of the day" are all vague about what kind of fish is being offered. Atleast with Kentucky Fried chicken, you can be pretty sure that you are eating a certain kind of bird; a steak sandwich usually means "beef" -- not random mammal. But with fish, people seem to think a fish is a fish is a fish. It is increasingly important to be aware that the higher up the food chain a fish is, the greater the likelihood that it will have unacceptable concentrations of substances such as heavy metals -- (mercury, lead, etc.)as well as fire retardants, PCBs, pesticides, herbicides and other noxious substances. Top carnivores include many of the most popular food fish -- tunas, swordfish, sharks, cod, flounder, grouper, snapper, mahi-mahi, salmon, halibut, and so on. Good choices -- safe to eat, generally much better for the ocean -- are such things as farmed catfish, tilapia and carp, as well as some kinds of farmed shellfish, notably scallops, mussels, clams and oysters.

The planet is warming -- air, land and sea, and has been doing so gradually since the end of the last Ice Age some 14,000 years ago. Human activity in various forms is accelerating this trend, with consequences that will surely be disruptive to natural systems as well as to human societies. In addition to the changes that will occur in the distribution of plants and animals on the land and in the sea it is likely that ocean currents will be altered,
further disrupting global temperature distribution. A concern at least as great is that excess carbon dioxide in the ocean is causing a trend toward increasing acidification. Some worry about the consequences to coral reefs if acidification reaches a level that weakens the skeletal structure of corals, certain sponges and the calcified algae that make up much of the structure of reef systems. Even more alarming is the possibility that acidification of the ocean could interfere with the ability of the minute photosynthetic plankton to form their shells -- and thus with their capacity to generate oxygen that now supplies much of the free oxygen in the atmosphere, as well as the food that is a major force in driving ocean food chains. If you really want to undermine the way the world works, disrupt photosynthesis in the ocean. The consequences would surely not be in our best interests.

Desalination does provide a means of obtaining fresh water but there are impacts that need to be taken into account.
Ocean water is not just water plus salt. Ocean water is filled with living creatures, and most of them are lost in the process of desalination. Most are microbial, but intake pipes to desal plants also take up the larvae of a cross section of life in the sea, as well as some fairly large organisms that can be regarded as desal "bycatch" . . .part of the hidden cost of doing business. Also, the highly saline residue that results from desalination must be disposed of properly, not just dumped back into the sea if other problems are to be avoided. As with everything else we do, it is important to think about the entire process from start to finish -- not just focus on one piece of the action.

Thanks for the chance to chat. I'm sorry to did not have time to get to all of the questions, but look forward to doing this again. Please save the questions! Maybe we can find another way to respond.

With thanks,

Sylvia Earle