It's World Oceans Day: High Time to Save the Seas

The following post is provided by guest commentator Debbie Salamone, Communications Manager at the Pew Campaign to End Overfishing in the Southeast.

More than 245 marine scientists from 35 countries are calling for a worldwide system of ocean parks to serve as proverbial arks for dwindling species.

The scientists’ public proclamation, released today on World Oceans Day, is meant to demonstrate support for bolder action to save oceans at risk from climate change, pollution and overfishing.

“Marine scientists understand the immediate need to set aside more and larger marine reserves to give our oceans a chance to recover and replenish. Although some progress has been made, we hope that the public and world leaders pay attention to this message and act before it is too late,’’ said Sylvia Earle, world-renowned oceanographer and one of the signatories. Read the statement here.

Only 0.4 percent of the world’s oceans are fully protected from extractive activities, such as drilling, fishing and mining. By comparison, more than 30 times as much land area -- 5.8 percent of the world’s land -- has been set aside.

The scientists have in mind large marine reserves similar to several recently designated. In 2009, the United States created marine reserves within 195,000 square miles surrounding the Mariana Islands and several remote islands in the central Pacific. The region boasts the world’s deepest canyon, volcanoes and fissures that spew hot water near coral reefs, creating the greatest diversity of species yet discovered near these unique, life-giving vents. And earlier this year, the United Kingdom created a 210,000-square-mile reserve in the Chagos Archipelago, 55 tiny islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean that are home to the world’s largest coral atoll.

Another prospective site is Australia’s Coral Sea, which the government is considering for a reserve. It is one of the last remaining places on Earth where populations of large fish, such as sharks, tuna and billfish, remain healthy. Learn more about it here.

Large reserves are rare. Most no-take areas are small and inshore and provide local conservation benefits. Bigger areas can better protect the broader ecosystem and species such as sharks and tuna that roam vast expanses of the ocean.

We should act now to pinpoint new reserves in areas that have not been intensively fished, are relatively intact, and that are under jurisdictions of nations capable of monitoring and enforcing protection. As people demand more seafood and resources, even these remote and isolated areas will come under siege.

We’ve seen the value of preserving places such as the Grand Canyon or Yosemite. Now it’s time to give the same conservation priority to our oceans. To learn more about efforts to establish marine reserves, visit Pew’s Global Ocean Legacy project at (www.globaloceanlegacy.org)

Images: Some of the spectacular life on display in Australia's Coral Sea. Courtesy of Lucy Trippett