When ocean species collapse, it makes the ocean itself weaker and less able to recover from shocks like global climate change, Worm said. The worst case scenario is that our fish supplies, crustaceans, molluscs and mammals could be depleted beyond repair by the year 2048; the study has announced that if we continue to fish the oceans as we have been, we run the risk of killing our oceans.
The results of a four year investigation into ‘marine biodiversity’ is in and the results are dramatic but not without hope. The authors’ of this study come from five countries and it’s the largest endeavour so far that has looked into the productivity of our oceans and the history of fishing and how the ecosystems interrelate with each other. These authors reviewed many individual studies and the same pattern emerged, once the biodiversity is lost, the entire system goes into decline. "Whether we looked at tide pools or studies over the entire world's ocean, we saw the same picture emerging," Worm said in a statement. "In losing species we lose the productivity and stability of entire ecosystems. I was shocked and disturbed by how consistent these trends are - beyond anything we suspected."
Boris Worm is a marine conservationist from Dalhouse University in Canada and he says that inside the 44 protected areas studied,” species came back more quickly than people anticipated – in three or five or 10 years. And where this has been done we see immediate economic benefits.”
This study has been a wealth of knowledge for many and Peter Kareiva from the Nature Conservancy in the US says “This analysis provides the best documentation I have ever seen regarding biodiversity’s value.” The findings show that decline in marine biodiversity is primarily due to the over-fishing and damage caused by the loss of habitat. Steve Palumbi from the Stanford University in California says,” Unless we fundamentally change the way we manage all the ocean species together, as working eco-systems, then this century is the last century of wild food.” Steve was another person working on this investigation. It is interesting to note that marine conservation projects can increase marine biodiversity by more than a fifth and raise fish catches four fold. At present there are not any effective measures in place to ensure the world’s oceans are protected.
Nicola Beaumont from the Plymouth Marine Laboratory in the UK was another person who contributed to the study. She says that besides the fisheries, marine biodiversity provides other services such as preventing algal blooms, processing waste and maintaining the ability of the oceans to absorb our carbon dioxide emissions. She added,” To help minimize climate change we need a resilient and healthy marine ecosystem.
