Marine Wildlife Under Threat

Marine wildlife is threatened in almost every part of the world. The main threats include over fishing, destruction of natural habitat, and pollution.

Over fishing has led to fish stocks decreasing at an alarming rate and many species are facing extinction. Over fishing has occurred as a result of increased world population and thus demand, large scale industrial fishing techniques, and poor management by governments.

Many fish, birds, and reptiles breed near the shore of water bodies and it is these areas where most habitat destruction occurs. People can reduce this destruction by staying away from sand dunes by sticking to marked paths, by being careful around river banks or avoiding them completely, especially in boats, and by not taking souvenirs such as shells or coral.

Pollution of marine environments can come from many sources including plastic bags and other rubbish, oil slicks, runoff from fertilisers and pesticides, mercury, and other chemicals.

Runoff from fertiliser, pesticides, and other chemicals can be reduced by the introduction of organic farming methods which enrich soils and reduce pests naturally. These methods typically involve using well rotted animal manures and green covers to improve soil structure and quality and introducing more effective farming methods such as mixing crop varieties and rotating crops.

Home owners can help prevent the runoff of fertilisers polluting lakes and rivers by stopping using chemical fertilisers altogether, instead adding natural compost and mulch to build soil fertility. There is no need to uses pesticides in the garden. A few bugs won't destroy your garden and many can be removed by hand or try companion planting to increase the number of predatory insects. Use drip irrigation to avoid over watering.

A small thing everyone can do to help marine wildlife is to stop accepting plastic bags when you go shopping and to reuse those that you already have. Plastic bags have a significant impact on the environment, especially on marine wildlife. Marine animals and birds often ingest plastic shopping bags and die as a result.

Plastic bags decompose at a very slow rate, estimated to be anywhere from 20 to 500 years, which means each bag that you use compounds the environmental problems. When marine animals die from ingesting plastic bags and their bodies decompose, the plastic bag often goes on to be ingested and kill another animal.