Worlds Oceans In Dire Trouble

[ElasticNinja]

BBC News - World's oceans in shocking decline

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".

They 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.

"The findings are shocking," said Alex Rogers, IPSO's scientific director and professor of conservation biology at Oxford University.

"As we considered the cumulative effect of what humankind does to the oceans, the implications became far worse than we had individually realised.

"We've sat in one forum and spoken to each other about what we're seeing, and we've ended up with a picture showing that almost right across the board we're seeing changes that are happening faster than we'd thought, or in ways that we didn't expect to see for hundreds of years."

These "accelerated" changes include melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, sea level rise, and release of methane trapped in the sea bed.

"What we're seeing at the moment is unprecedented in the fossil record - the environmental changes are much more rapid," Professor Rogers told BBC News.

"We've still got most of the world's biodiversity, but the actual rate of extinction is much higher [than in past events] - and what we face is certainly a globally significant extinction event."

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), it concludes.

Quite shocking for me. Never gave much thought to sea life myself with regards to mans impact on the environment.

 

[Knewz]

so the earth is no longer 75% water?

 

[Bob Maxey]

I'll wait until Al Gore creates a Power Point Oceans Presentation before I decide what's what. I hope it is soon so I can purchase Ocean Dump Offset Credits.

 

[A.Nonymous]

I've heard this for 30 years. I don't doubt it at all, but the routine pushing of the panic button causes people to tune out altogether.

 

[Dark Jedi]

The way all countries just dump crap in to the oceans and all the oil spills over the years. You are shocked marine life is dying? It's human nature to think out of sight out of mind. We really didn't explore the oceans until the last few decades and start taking samples and seeing what our dumping of waste did to the oceans. What over fishing and destruction of habitat did to the creatures that lived there. It's funny I swear we come from another planet as we couldnt have came from earth. We are the only organism that isn't in tune with the balance of life. We are a destructive force that cares only of the hear and now and not what our actions will cause 30 years down the road.

 

[A.Nonymous]

We humans are not good at all at looking to the future whether it's our future or countries future. It's quite shameful really. We have the ability to plan for the future yet we never do.

 

[FreakyLocz14]

Extinctions are a natural thing. They've been happening long before humans even existed.

 

[Dark Jedi]

Difference is nature isn't causing this one. Man is.

 

[FreakyLocz14]

Difference is nature isn't causing this one. Man is.

Nothing in those clippings provides concrete evidence of that claim. We're tinkering with nature more in our attempts to preserve endangered species. Species need to be able to naturally die off.

 

[Dark Jedi]

Nothing in those clippings provides concrete evidence of that claim. We're tinkering with nature more in our attempts to preserve endangered species. Species need to be able to naturally die off.

Let's see man killed off all the buffalo's in north America. Man's use of pesticides almost wiped out the california condor and or nations bird the bald eagle. How many species of whales has man almost brought to extinction because we needed that oil in their bodies? Easier way is look at the endangered species list and see how many are on there due to man.

How many oil spills have we had due to man's greed or incompetence?

What people ate doing now is to little to late. The damage is done. So don't make man out to be the earths savior.

 

[FreakyLocz14]

Let's see man killed off all the buffalo's in north America. Man's use of pesticides almost wiped out the california condor and or nations bird the bald eagle. How many species of whales has man almost brought to extinction because we needed that oil in their bodies? Easier way is look at the endangered species list and see how many are on there due to man.

How many oil spills have we had due to man's greed or incompetence?

What people ate doing now is to little to late. The damage is done. So don't make man out to be the earths savior.

The number of oil spills we've had doesn't prove or disprove that they are related to the extinction or endangering of a species.

 

[NightAngel79]

Just a little attack the issue not the person reminder

Carry on

 

[ElasticNinja]

It amazes me how some people can so easily claim scientists are so mistaken and completely wrong sometimes.

 

[Dark Jedi]

The number of oil spills we've had doesn't prove or disprove that they are related to the extinction or endangering of a species.

Never said oil isn't a cause of an animal extinction or endangered. But the oil has major impact on the ecosystem. look at our If quality I guess that's the animals fault? You give the typical human response of I don't know how it happened but it wasn't us that caused it but I am trying to fix it though.

 

[RiverOfIce]

I really dont think anyone can say that the current state has nothing to do with man.

I mean really just google the facts.

The average bluefin tuna weight about 500 kg in the 1930's.

The average in the 2001 was 124 kg.

The average in 2009 was 65kg.

A 300kg tuna today would fetch about 300,000 dollars on the open market, just for 1 fish.

Why would the average size of a tuna decrease over time? Well could be the environment, but where fishing for tuna is ban we still have 500kg fish? I wonder why the average size is getting smaller and smaller?

You really can not Google a single fish that is not over fished. 93% of all cod that is caught today is immature. Which means 93% of all the cod in the oceans are immature fish. I wonder would force would only take cod of a certain size or larger, I think you would need something with holes in it to make sure the smaller sizes got through, what could be use to limit the size of the animal to x or larger?

 

[ElasticNinja]

In the EU we give fishermen huge handouts to stop fishing yet they simply refuse. Its denial. People cant accept that their way of life is not sustainable.

 

[Gmash]

It amazes me how some people can so easily claim scientists are so mistaken and completely wrong sometimes.

These are the same people who denied for years and years that cigarettes cause cancer and all the scientists were crazy fear-mongers. (except for the scientists on the tobacco company payrolls who said cigs were safe- those guys knew what they were talking about). Same thing. -"all of the scientists don't agree about global warming- we have these scientists over here that work for the oil companies that say it's a crock." Whatever. "Drill, baby, drill", and make fun of Al Gore for being right. It's a waste of time to argue about it. Rush Limbaugh told me so.

 

[FreakyLocz14]

I really dont think anyone can say that the current state has nothing to do with man.

I mean really just google the facts.

The average bluefin tuna weight about 500 kg in the 1930's.

The average in the 2001 was 124 kg.

The average in 2009 was 65kg.

A 300kg tuna today would fetch about 300,000 dollars on the open market, just for 1 fish.

Why would the average size of a tuna decrease over time? Well could be the environment, but where fishing for tuna is ban we still have 500kg fish? I wonder why the average size is getting smaller and smaller?

You really can not Google a single fish that is not over fished. 93% of all cod that is caught today is immature. Which means 93% of all the cod in the oceans are immature fish. I wonder would force would only take cod of a certain size or larger, I think you would need something with holes in it to make sure the smaller sizes got through, what could be use to limit the size of the animal to x or larger?

I never said that man has nothing to do with effecting our planet, but left-wing extremist groups grossly over exaggerate.

 

[_mw_]

Right wing extremists grossly underestimate.

 

[mdram]

Scientists Find That Tons Of Oil Seep Into The Gulf Of Mexico Each Year

 

[Dark Jedi]

Scientists Find That Tons Of Oil Seep Into The Gulf Of Mexico Each Year

The difference is its not all at one time. Like the Exxon Valdez dumped all its oil at one time and not over a years time.

 

[mdram]

The difference is its not all at one time. Like the Exxon Valdez dumped all its oil at one time and not over a years time.

but thats just the gulf
expand that to the entire ocean, and think of the number

 

[ElasticNinja]

but thats just the gulf
expand that to the entire ocean, and think of the number

There are not oil wells everywhere and nature has had millions of years to evolve.

 

[Dark Jedi]

but thats just the gulf
expand that to the entire ocean, and think of the number

Still its different when its a little every day over a year compared to a whole years worth in a matter of hours or days.

a drop of bleach in a gallon of water wont harm you, but a cup of bleach in a gallon of water and you wont be feeling the best.

 

[mdram]

There are not oil wells everywhere and nature has had millions of years to evolve.

its natural leaks, nothing to do with oil wells