One World, One Ocean. It’s Time to Save It

The rich and poor worlds are linked as never before – by economics, trade, migration, and also by one body of water that covers 70 percent of the earth’s surface and on which our survival depends. As there is only one World, there is also one Ocean. But the world’s Ocean is dying.

• The warning signs are already there:
• oil slicks off the coast of Spain, and hospital waste washing up on the beaches of the Long Island Sound, in the United States
• stranded dolphins and whales dying along the United States’ California coast
• one-third of the world’s coral reefs degraded beyond recovery, and another third at risk
• 90 percent of the Ocean’s big predatory fish stocks – tuna, marlin, sharks, and cod – gone
• alarm bells sounding of the health risks of eating farmed salmon because of cancer causing chemicals.

Over-fishing is Killing the Global Ocean

A technological revolution that has made boats capable of catching more fish than ever before, a population explosion along the coasts, subsidies of fishing fleets in developed countries, and a steadily rising demand for fish products have all combined to create a global threat, with consequences for future generations that we can only begin to imagine.

An ever-expanding fishing fleet, supported by heavy rich country subsidies (around $15 billion per year worldwide), has devastated fishing grounds. Illegal fishing is on the rise, global governance is ineffective, and poor fisherpersons are paying the price. These policies have promoted a kind of “fishing down the food chain” that is stripping the Ocean of its keystone species.

Demand is also rising, fueled by affluence in mainly developed, but also in some developing, countries. Consumption of fish has doubled in the past 30 years, from 45 million tons in 1973 to 100 million tons today, and is predicted to increase to 128 million tons by 2020.

Coral Reefs and Other Marine Ecosystems Are in Danger

Over-exploitation has cast its destructive nets as far down as to the beautiful but fragile deepwater coral reefs in search of species such as orange roughy – a popular but endangered delicacy served in many upscale restaurants around the world. Almost half the world’s population, 3 billion people and growing rapidly, now lives within a narrow 60 mile wide swath along the world’s coasts, destroying marine habitats with unchecked construction, and still more pollution. The nutrient-rich run-off from agriculture and untreated waste and chemicals from urban areas are devastating estuaries like the Chesapeake Bay in the United States, and creating dead zones off of the Gulf of Mexico.

And increasingly superimposed on these pressures is the impact of human induced climate change, which is already having dangerous impacts on the marine ecosystems that are essential to coastal economies and to the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of poor people. Climate change – causing outbreaks of disease and temperature-induced coral bleaching – may be slowly applying the finishing touches to the world’s oceans.

What Is the World Doing About it?

But there is reason for hope. The 2002 Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development, called for ambitious but achievable goals, such as restoring degraded fish stocks to sustainable levels by 2015. Now it is time to move forward, and developed countries must lead the way.

As with agriculture, rich countries must lead the way in eliminating the harmful subsidies and other protectionist policies that lead to over-fishing. These policies need to end in order to avoid continuing the depletion of the Ocean’s living resources.

Some countries are showing that progress is within reach. Reduction of overcapacity in Chile, and reclaiming foreign licensing agreements in Namibia in exchange for better regulated national fleets, have helped restore ground fish stocks. Environmental certification schemes, such as for dolphin-free tuna and Alaskan wild salmon, are promoting greener markets by responding to consumer demand for more eco-friendly products. Well managed Marine Protected Areas are attracting tourists in Belize and Mexico, and transforming local fishermen into tour guide operators and supporters of marine conservation.

The World Bank, together with partners such as the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) among others, is working based on a new perspective on Ocean management – one that starts high up in the watersheds of major rivers and continues downstream to the coastal zone and to the sea beyond. Only by prioritizing the close interconnections between land and water, human and Ocean health, sustainable management and renewable benefits, will we become responsible stewards of the Blue Planet on which our life and our future depends.

Note to Editors: You are free to run this piece in US media. For media outside the US, please contact InterPress Services (IPS) romacol@ips.org