World Oceans Day

Today is World Oceans Day. Let us stop a minute and think about the joy and wonder the ocean brings … and the crucial role it plays in our lives from seafood to sealanes, the waves, the beaches, the tides … our everyday being. As with everything else, it is all connected and we need to support conservation efforts to preserve our marine life.

These facts highlight the importance of the oceans:

• The ocean covers 72% of the earth’s surface;
• The ocean releases more oxygen into the atmosphere than all the world’s forests combined thanks to marine vegetation (phytoplankton).
• The ocean plays a fundamental role in controlling the global climate: it exchanges heat and gases with the atmosphere through currents and winds at the surface of the sea.
• The ocean is a vital source of animal protein for billions of people throughout the world.
• More than 50% of the world population lives on the coasts, and it will be 75% in 2025.
• Shipping accounts for the transport of 90% of the world’s international traded goods.
• The ocean holds considerable amounts of precious mineral and energy resources such as oil, gas, salt, precious metals…
• It accounts for 140 million jobs in fishing and aquaculture and many more in indirect employment in sea related activities (distribution of sea food, shipping, tourism, sea mining, marine military activities, science related activities, leisure activities…).
• The ocean has a fundamental political and military strategic importance.

Source: World Ocean Network

Let’s celebrate it!

This picture was taken on 5 November 2010 at the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town – well worth a visit.