How we ruined the oceans

The world’s seas are sick, and marine life is dwindling. Is it too late to avert catastrophe?

Coral reef
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Florida Keys News Bureau, Frazier Nivens))

Why are the oceans in trouble?

They can no longer absorb the damage inflicted by the 7 billion people on Earth. Over many decades, the human race has overfished key species to near extinction, and polluted them with carbon dioxide emissions, toxic chemicals, garbage, and discarded plastics. A groundbreaking new study, recently published in Science, warned that our oceans are being irreparably damaged by human activity and could be on "the precipice of a major extinction event." Coral reefs, home to a quarter of the ocean's fish, have declined by 40 percent worldwide. Stocks of swordfish, yellowfin tuna, and other large fish that people avidly eat are down by 90 percent. Marine scientists say that if mankind does not dramatically change how it treats the oceans and their inhabitants, many marine species will become extinct — with catastrophic consequences for the food chain. "If by the end of the century we're not off the business-as-usual curve," says Stanford University marine ecologist Stephen Palumbi, one of the report's authors, "there's not much hope for normal ecosystems in the ocean."

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