First, the good news: the Corona crisis is giving our oceans a chance to temporarily recover from the harmful influence of humans. There are fewer dangers, swimming, pollution and fishing. A good thing, according to David Jones, researcher, underwater photographer and CEO of Just One Ocean, an organization dedicated to protecting our oceans.” The reduction in fishing gives the fish population time to recover. There are also fewer boats, which makes the water brighter and the underwater vegetation blooms,” Jones told Turkey’s Anadolu Agency.
However, these changes are likely to be destroyed if we re-enter our old ways together after the Corona crisis. World Oceans Day, which has been held annually on 8 June since 2002, reminds citizens, organisations and politicians of the importance of our oceans for the survival of humans and the planet. After all, the oceans provide a large part of human food, oxygen production, and water and heat regulation on Earth.
An overview of the main threats from the ocean.
Warming © Greenpeace
Threat number one? Global warming, which includes penguins. In some penguin colonies, the number of animals has fallen by 77 percent from the last census nearly 50 years ago. This is reported by the environmental organisation Greenpeace.
Warming © Greenpeace
Scientists have found that each colony on Elephant Island, an important habitat in the northeast of the Antarctic Peninsula, has become smaller. The total number of storm-band penguins on the island has fallen by 60 percent since the last census in 1971, while the number of breeding pairs has fallen from 122,550 to 52,786.
Warming © Getty Images
The ecosystem of the Southern Ocean today is fundamentally different from 50 years ago. The effects of this change permeate the food chain to species such as the storm band penguin. Several factors may play a role, but all the evidence points to the direction of global warming as responsible,” said Heather J. Lynch of Stony Brook University.
Warming © Getty Images
Corals in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef have faded massively during a heat wave in 2017, which has also pushed up water temperatures. The cause? Again, global warming.
Plastic pollution © Getty Images
Plastic pollution is one of the biggest culprits for the health of our oceans. Every year, up to 8 billion kilos of plastic end up in the water.
Overfishing © Getty Images
Buyers inspect the tuna vanst at the Katsuura market in Japan. Worldwide, 31 percent of fish stocks are overexploited. Some scientists claim that by 2050, the most commonly eaten fish species could be extinct. (Source: WWF)
Overfishing © Getty Images
The corals near Raja Ampat in Indonesia have died due to the use of dynamite during fishing.
Oil pollution © Getty Images
Oil in water is also a major threat to our oceans. Last week, a state of emergency was declared in Norilsk and on the Tajik Peninsula in northern Russia. The sinking of an oil tank at an old power plant owned by NTEC (a Nornickel Group company in the city of Norilsk) has spilled 20,000 tonnes of oil and polluted more than 20 kilometres of river pollution. Oil pollution continues to flow into the open sea. The scale of the disaster is similar to that of the oil tanker Exxon Valdez in Alaska 30 years ago. Floating dams in the river can absorb a small part of the diesel oil. However, experts say most of the pollution will remain in the water.