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Page added on February 17, 2014
Oceans in peril
Relentlessly rising human demand for deep-sea resources such as fish, gas and oil, is posing such a risk that international co-operation is needed if aquatic ecosystems are to be saved, US scientists warn.
The doubling of the world’s population over the past five decades is putting great strain on the deep-sea ecosystems, they told an annual science congress in Chicago on Sunday.
The ecosystems are now threatened by the same kind of mass industrialisation common on land during the 20th century, according to researchers gathered at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting.
“At the same time, human society has undergone tremendous changes and we rarely, if ever, think about these affecting our ocean, let alone the deep ocean,” said Lisa Levin, who heads the Centre for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California.
“As we exhaust many coastal stocks, commercial fishers have turned toward deeper waters,” she said.
The quadrupling of energy demands over the past 50 years have led companies to search for oil and gas in the deep seas, defined as waters more than 1000 metres deep.
Today there are some 2000 platforms drilling on deep sea ocean floors, “bringing with it the potential for environmental disaster of the sort we saw with the Deepwater Horizon,” Levin said, referring to a massive 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
At the same time, the demand for hard-to-find rare earth elements needed for portable electronics and batteries for hybrid vehicles is pushing mining companies to scour the ocean floors.
“Vast tracts of deep seabed are now being leased in order to mine nodules, crusts, sulfides, and phosphates rich in elements demanded by our advanced economy,” said Levin.
Human knowledge of the deep sea ecosystem however has not kept pace with the growth of human activities affecting the deep seas, she said.
Levin called for “international cooperation and an entity that can develop and oversee deep-ocean stewardship.”
11 Comments on "Oceans in peril"
Davy, Hermann, MO on Mon, 17th Feb 2014 11:43 pm
I am truly sad about the ocean ecosystems being destroyed. I am a diver and love the reefs of the Bahamas. I wonder how much of the mining and overfishing can continue as we head down the energy gradient. I see no end in sight for the pollutions, dead zones, acidification, and coastal habitat loss. Even if the economy gives out and industry is beat back significantly the effects already done or in the pipeline will play out for years much like AGW with climate. I have read there is a point where life in the oceans will not recover and the whole ecosystem goes to a lower level of let’s say jelly fish. Jelly fish might make a decent smoothie with the right spices. Not sure of the health benefits of jelly fish. I know I was stung bad one time by a jelly fish!
Makati1 on Tue, 18th Feb 2014 1:06 am
I could tell when the eco tide turned long ago. When the amount of trash on a beach exceeds the amount of natural refuse, like shells and kelp, something is wrong. Go on any beach early in the morning before the beach cleaners arrive and you will see what I mean. When I was a kid, I could go out and find large shells everywhere. Masses of seaweed and driftwood were common after storms. Not so anymore. Plastic crap is dominant now.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Tue, 18th Feb 2014 1:10 am
@Makati – the same is true in the Bahamas where I go. Pristine beaches with plastic crap. We go treasure hunting looking through the crap. The Atlantic sides gets the trash but on the Bahama bay side is the beaches are clean. The trash is not from the Bahamians it is from the Ocean currents. Very sad
MSN fanboy on Tue, 18th Feb 2014 1:33 am
Hmm . more bad news. I am noticing a pattern, where ever humans go (The oh so “VERY SPECIAL APE”) We have, as a collective through technology adopted the movements of a swarm of locusts.
Thing is, when everything is consumed (At the greatest size of the Swarm is also an inflection point) Maybe humanity is like this…at the greatest population of the “SPECIAL APE” and the peak of… well us is also going to be the flip side to our collective demise.
Technology should save us… but maybe I am wrong. Technology is neither the problem or solution.
Humanity’s collective “logic” is flawed. Fundamentally broken, i.e. infinite growth on a finite planet. We know this as a brute fact, yet treat this premise as a social fact.
Short-Term thought + Morality + false cultural norms = planetary Omnicide.
The power of human belief in the face of such self evident truths backed up via a synoptic web of pragmatic empirical evidence. ITS TRUELY AMAZING.
Of course, we all die in the end but you have to appreciate the logical fallacy that is modern society.
I still believe my technological narrative and free market will “save us” in the face of this. But maybe my assumptions are wrong. The issue isn’t tech or anything real. They are the expressions, the issue is fundamentally flawed Human beings. (Culture)
“The special Ape” Humanity should have on its collective grave ( OXYMORONIC )
Maybe intelligence is stupidity.
GregT on Tue, 18th Feb 2014 4:16 am
Ted talk, The Rise of Slime, How We Wrecked the Ocean.
Jeremy Jackson, Professor of Oceanography and Director of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. 2010
http://www.climateshifts.org/?p=5277
Five years ago in BC, I routinely bought Sockeye Salmon for 6 dollars a fish. Last fall, we were paying 18.99 a pound.
If we have any hope of reversing the damage that we have done to the world’s oceans we need to start now. If we wait for another decade, the oceans are done. If the oceans die, human beings will not be far behind. We need to rethink our relationship with the planet Earth, or we face extinction.
Northwest Resident on Tue, 18th Feb 2014 5:39 am
MSN fanboy — I tend to think that technology IS the problem, or more precisely, that technology in the hands of greed and power-motivated humans who have not sufficiently matured socially and ecologically to be able to wield all that technology responsibly. We are like a 5-year-old with a loaded pistol — very dangerous and ignorantly capable of self-destruction. Mother Nature is about to teach humanity a very severe lesson. Hopefully, whatever survives of the human race will have learned that lesson well.
GregT on Tue, 18th Feb 2014 8:01 am
I ‘tend’ to agree with NWR. Is it so surprising MSN, when one considers the average IQ of 100?
Democracy ensures our outcome to be less than desirable.
Student on Tue, 18th Feb 2014 9:50 am
Reports of the state of the oceans just get worse and worse
http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1848433/the-ocean-is-broken/
I spent 2 weeks in January in the South Pacific and my tally was 1 whale
Even I am begging to think that we may well be beyond the point of no return
J-Gav on Tue, 18th Feb 2014 10:02 am
GregT – Except that what we have is a democracy only in name. In fact, the original Greek version wasn’t based primarily on elections – they drew lots to see who would occupy what office for a fixed, non-renewable mandate. Of course they had filters to avoid getting over-indebted or criminally insane people in office. Those who handled large sums of money and the ten top generals were elected (only about 10% of total offices). Sounds crazy but it kept the aspiring, greedy elites from at bay for quite a while.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Tue, 18th Feb 2014 11:12 am
@Gav – good observation about Democracy! Yea, today it is a great tool of corruption, manipulation, and wealth transfer. You allow people to talk, act, and think free. You use propaganda and advertising to steer them in the right direction. I might add the constitution has been hollowed out. The Supreme court allowing the Citizens United hammered the nail. Ben Franklin one said of the United States that It may last 200 years but eventually corruption would destroy it.
Kenz300 on Tue, 18th Feb 2014 7:27 pm
Too many people and too few resources.
Unsustainable population growth is the worlds worst environmental problem.