Frank Lingo for BuzzFlash: Ocean Study Reveals Imminent Dangers
July 16. 2022
By Frank Lingo
The journal Nature Ecology & Evolution (www.nature.com) released its first comprehensive study of the world’s oceans on July 7, 2022. Entitled “Marine and Coastal Horizon Scan,” it brought together 30 scientists, policymakers and practitioners from 11 nations to identify new issues likely to impact marine and coastal biodiversity in the next 5-10 years.
It’s understandable if you didn’t hear about this. As of 3 days later, the first 10 pages of a Google search showed very few articles about the study on mainstream news websites. That’s neglect of their journalistic duties. I noticed it on the excellent website www.InsideClimateNews.org.
The study cites many emerging menaces stemming from global warming, like soil runoff and airborne soot from widespread wildfires, and toxic effects of biodegradable replacements for plastics.
The report warns that many fish will migrate from the hottest ocean regions, leaving dead zones that could cause severe food shortages in equatorial areas. Even where fish remain, warmer water reduces their nutritional content due to less fatty acid in the plankton that fish consume.
Co-author Omar Defeo said the study’s list of 15 issues “are multi-dimensional and connected. There are no impacts that have isolated consequences, they work in a cascading way.”
A cautionary tone of the research is that we should learn more about the ocean before we destroy it. That’s because the ocean may mitigate mankind’s myopic madness by saving us from the devastating effects we’ve caused. An example is what is called the twilight zone – between 200 and 1000 meters below the surface – where mesopelagic fish (don’t worry, there won’t be a test on this) make up 90% of the sea’s fish by weight.
There is evidence that mesopelagic fish, including squid and lanternfish (which light up with a function called bioluminescence) provide carbon sequestration that helps to slow the damage of global warming. But the commercial fishing industry is anxious to exploit this rich segment of the sea, having depleted many of the fish populations closer to the surface. It’s up to countries with these fishing fleets to curb the industry’s insatiable hunger for more fish. Like me with chocolate, fisheries know no moderation.
Another ocean issue involves lithium, a key element of renewable technologies, which can be mined from deep-sea brine pools. But those brine pools may support a surprising amount of marine life.
“If we don’t look at what is there, and understand what diversity of life we have there, and we go extracting from these places, we don’t know what we are losing,” said James Herbert-Read, a co-author from the University of Cambridge
Then we have the problem of plastic. There are huge floating plastic trash patches in oceans around the world, some of it in the form of invisible microplastics which have been found in the lungs and blood of living creatures, including humans, worldwide. But replacing oil-based plastic with a so-called biodegradable substitute, usually based on plant-based starches, is a new challenge with unintended consequences. “The problem is that those materials don’t really biodegrade under natural conditions,” Herbert-Read said.
Still another threat to the oceans is coastal darkening, the study found. This is caused by soil erosion, permafrost thawing and other factors that results in a diminished supply of plankton, the base of life in the ocean food chain. This degrades coastal habitats and their ecological functions, including carbon sequestration, a vital need if we’re to slow global warming.
If we only cared about our enlightened self-interest we’d take care of the ocean because it gives us rain to grow our food and up to 80% of oxygen in case we’d like to keep breathing.
Will this scholarly study make a difference in how we treat the oceans? Omar Defeo said, “The positivity will be measured by the management of all the issues listed. There can be a positive outcome but it will depend on all of us.”
Visit Lingo’s website: www.Greenbeat.world