NEVERMIND THE WHALES, SAVE THEIR OCEAN

World's oceans in 'shocking' decline
Richard Black, 20 June 2011 (BBC News)

"The oceans are in a worse state than previously suspected, according to an expert panel of scientists…In a new report, they warn that ocean life is ‘at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history’…[and] conclude that issues such as over-fishing, pollution and climate change are acting together in ways that have not previously been recognised.

"The impacts, they say, are already affecting humanity…[T]he International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO)…brought together experts from different disciplines, including coral reef ecologists, toxicologists, and fisheries scientists…[Spokespeople said] ‘findings are shocking’…[and the implications are] far worse than we had individually realised…[Accelerated] changes include melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, sea level rise, and release of methane trapped in the sea bed…"

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"…[M]ore worrying than this, the team noted, are the ways in which different issues act synergistically to increase threats to marine life…Some pollutants, for example, stick to the surfaces of tiny plastic particles that are now found in the ocean bed…This increases the amounts of these pollutants that are consumed by bottom-feeding fish…Plastic particles also assist the transport of algae from place to place, increasing the occurrence of toxic algal blooms…[And] ocean acidification, warming, local pollution and overfishing are acting together to increase the threat to coral reefs…[T]hree-quarters of the world's reefs are at risk of severe decline…

"Life on Earth has gone through five ‘mass extinction events’ caused by events such as asteroid impacts; and it is often said that humanity's combined impact is causing a sixth such event…[Though the] IPSO report concludes that it is too early to say definitively…[the scientists say] the trends are such that it is likely to happen…and far faster than any of the previous five…"

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"The report also notes that previous mass extinction events have been associated with trends being observed now - disturbances of the carbon cycle, and acidification and hypoxia (depletion of oxygen) of seawater…Levels of CO2 being absorbed by the oceans are already far greater than during the great extinction of marine species 55 million years ago (during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum)…

"IPSO's immediate recommendations include…[1] stopping exploitative fishing now, with special emphasis on the high seas where currently there is little effective regulation…[2] mapping and then reducing the input of pollutants including plastics, agricultural fertilisers and human waste…[and, 3] making sharp reductions in greenhouse gas emissions...Carbon dioxide levels are now so high, it says, that ways of pulling the gas out of the atmosphere need to be researched urgently - but not using techniques, such as iron fertilisation, that lead to more CO2 entering the oceans…[in order to] protect the blue heart of [the] planet…"