Newswise — For centuries, people have considered the world's oceans an inexhaustible resource. Now, most of the world's 17 major ocean fisheries are in decline, important coastal habitats are disappearing at an alarming rate, and climate change and pollution are harming coral ecosystems possibly beyond recovery. In celebration of World Ocean Day, June 8, Earthwatch Institute offers people the opportunity to take action on behalf of the two thirds of the planet that is essentially one ocean.
"Consider that a single molecule of seawater can and will circulate around the entire world ocean over the course of seven years," said Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, a research associate at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Nichols, the noted scientist, ocean advocate, and president-elect of the International Sea Turtle Society, is former principal investigator of an Earthwatch sea turtle project in Baja California, Mexico.
"That means that what we do on one coast does matter to the people living on another coast half a world away," Nichols continued. "Animals like sea turtles, elephant seals, bluefin tuna, and white sharks connect the ocean through their thousand-mile migrations. A sea turtle born in Mexico is not a Mexican turtle when it's grazing on a coral reef in Hawaii or plucking jellyfish from Indonesian seas. It's just a beautiful sea turtle."
World Ocean Day was established in 1992 at the United Nations Earth Summit, in Rio de Janeiro, as a way for organizations and individuals from around the world to come together to celebrate our world ocean. It provides the time to reflect on the ocean's importance in our lives and encourages doing something good for our blue planet. Through its unique model of citizen science, Earthwatch offers thousands of people the opportunity to make a significant difference in ocean habitats around the world.
For instance, Earthwatch volunteers are helping world-renowned cetacean researcher, Dr. Bernd Würsig of Texas A&M, investigate the impact of marine farms in New Zealand's Admiralty Bay on the local dusky dolphin population. "The world ocean is in trouble, and if we do not solve some of its myriad problems, our beloved whales and dolphins will continue to spiral into ever greater danger," said Würsig, principal investigator of Earthwatch's New Zealand Dolphins project.
"This is our greatest challenge, from regional over-fishing of salmon in the North Pacific, to all-encompassing issues of global warming," continued Würsig." Are we, as humans on this fragile Earth, up to the challenges of saving a significant part of this huge ecosystem?"
Earthwatch teams are helping John Rollino, senior ecologist at Earth Tech, Inc. monitor coral reefs in the Bahamas, including staghorn and elkhorn corals recently listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. "In 2005, huge portions of the reefs in the eastern Caribbean have undergone drastic declines due to coral mortality from above average water temperatures," said Rollino. "Some of the individual coral colonies that perished last year were alive over a hundred years ago."
"Every year, the ocean just seems a little bit smaller," said Dr. Kathleen Sullivan Sealey (University of Miami), principal investigator of Earthwatch's Coastal Ecology of the Bahamas project. Volunteers are helping her understand the impact of coastal development on nearshore habitats. "There is more trash washed up on the beach with every tide in all shapes, materials, and languages. There are fewer fish and conch around for local consumption, and greater fears as new information is circulated about health threats in contaminated coastal waters."
World Ocean Day prompts many to wonder what they can do to help the ocean environment, and Earthwatch-supported research projects offer countless opportunities to act. From the coral reefs of the Seychelles to grey whales migrating off British Columbia, Earthwatch teams from around the world bring the latest scientific methods into the field to bear on questions of ocean sustainability.
"We need to act like our actions matter, because they do matter," said Nichols. "We must act like our actions affect others, because they do affect others. We need to evolve our ways as if our life depended on it, because our life does depend on it. To take on the pressing issues facing our ocean planet, we need more creative, innovative and progressive-minded people who understand that it's one ocean, indivisible, after all."
Earthwatch Institute is a global volunteer organization that supports scientific field research by offering members of the public unique opportunities to work alongside leading field scientists and researchers. Earthwatch's mission is to engage people worldwide in scientific field research and education to promote the understanding and action necessary for a sustainable environment. The year 2006 marks Earthwatch's 35th anniversary.
Scientists or Earthwatch volunteers are available for interviews. More than 4,000 volunteers from all 50 states and 79 countries helped in the field last year, so most likely there will be a past volunteer from your readership area.Find more information on how to volunteer for dozens of marine projects worldwide, explore http://www.earthwatch.org, or call for a sample copy of the Earthwatch 2006 Expedition Guide.
Read Dr. Nichols complete comments in an essay titled, "One Ocean, Indivisible," at: http://tinyurl.com/rlq66
Find out more about how to celebrate World Ocean Day at: http://www.theoceanproject.org
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