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Everyone wants to use them, no one wants to worry about them: this is the current state of the world’s oceans.
Tourists want pristine beaches, animals want people untouched. We want clean electricity from offshore wind farms, but we don’t yet know in detail how good these systems are for the offshore ecosystem. And everyone wants to have metals on the deep seafloor. Thanks to the quasi-legal vacuum, the stronger will probably get it – and that’s not nature.
garbage that kills
According to the Swiss marine conservation organization Oceancare, about nine million tons of plastic waste ends up in the oceans each year. About 20 percent of the litter comes from ships, the rest enters the sea through sewers and rivers from the mainland, drifting by the wind or from beaches.
Plastic waste also occurs in places you might not immediately suspect: Cosmetic manufacturers increase the cleaning effect of toothpastes, shower gels or exfoliating products by adding tiny plastic beads called microplastics. Tiny particles pass unhindered through treatment plants and reach the sea via rivers.
Sea animals that mistook larger pieces of plastic for food are starving because the plastic clogs their digestive systems. Young sea creatures can become entangled in floating plastic and slowly suffocate themselves as they grow. Cords and plastic parts catch animals and prevent them from being hunted.
According to Oceancare, the trend of littering will continue unabated: by 2050, plastic waste floating in the sea will outweigh the fish that live in it.
Collision above and below water
Many find the sound of the sea to be a wonderful sound. But with our consumerism and energy consumption, we pollute the world’s oceans through shipping traffic, the construction and operation of offshore wind farms, oil and gas platforms, and seismic surveys. Plus, WWII explosives are a real noise in the ocean. Man-made noise dwarfs natural background noise in many marine areas.
accidental hunting
A European example from Greenpeace: Spanish and Portuguese fishing fleets use longlines to fish in the habitat of baby sharks in the North Atlantic. The decline in the shark population poses a problem for the ocean ecosystem. That’s according to a new Greenpeace study. In summary: Humans are far more dangerous to sharks than vice versa.
North Atlantic longline fishing targets swordfish, but largely results in shark hunting. The global shark population has declined by 70 percent in the last 50 years.
In addition, according to Greenpeace, the annual turnover of the shark products industry exceeds one billion dollars. Shark can be found in everything from soup and pet food to makeup. Europe is a major player in the global shark trade.
deep sea mining
“Companies around the world are preparing to enter previously untouched parts of the oceans by commercial deep-sea mining,” the WWF writes. According to the industry, this is necessary to meet the demand for metals and minerals. They want to dig metals and minerals like cobalt, lithium and nickel at least 200 meters into the sea. For example, for the manufacture of batteries in electronic devices.
semi-legal domain
Why are some allowed to fish, others to extract mineral resources, and others to pollute the seas, but nobody cares? Because there is no uniform law protecting the seas.
Although the exploitation of offshore mineral resources is regulated by the UN’s International Seabed Authority, the use of fish stocks and shipping are still regulated by other bodies. These authorities do not work together, so it is always possible to find a law that allows abuse. Because none of the authorities prioritize protection over use.
Negotiations on the protection of the high seas between UN states have just concluded in New York. For 20 years, UN member states have been working to develop an offshore agreement that coordinates existing bodies and creates protected areas. However, no agreement was reached and the negotiations were postponed. Nature has lost again.
Source : Blick
I am Dawid Malan, a news reporter for 24 Instant News. I specialize in celebrity and entertainment news, writing stories that capture the attention of readers from all walks of life. My work has been featured in some of the world’s leading publications and I am passionate about delivering quality content to my readers.
