First Post
posted in Conservation |Okay, so now I have built the site (still working on it so don’t be too critical) I guess I should write a post or two in the realm of its subject line. The Environment, specifically the Marine one, is that subject.
Everywhere we hear about new challenges facing the Marine environment. From Overfishing and Pollution to Threatened Species and Extinctions, the list of stresses we have placed upon our oceans is long and dirty. Just last week I read an article (can’t remember where) about the Farralon Islands off of San Fransisco where the US military dumped several thousand ordinary steel drums of Nuclear waste between the 50’s and the 80’s. The waters surrounding these Island have since been designated a Protected Area but the ramifications of all that highly toxic waste sitting on the bottom can never be truly measured.
According to the NOAA “Current estimates note that 10 percent of all coral reefs are degraded beyond recovery. Thirty percent are in critical condition and may die within 10 to 20 years. Experts predict that if current pressures are allowed to continue unabated, 60 percent of the world’s coral reefs may die completely by 2050 (CRTF, 2000). ”
These are sobering statistics considering that coral reefs are responsible for around 80% of the biodiversity found in our oceans.
Thankfully, more attention is being brought to these issues and work is being done on local, and to a lesser degree, global scale. With the work of organizations such as Greenpeace and the WWF as well as countless others, progress is being made. Too little too late??? It depends on us.
Have a look at the NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation site for up to date info on the plight of the worlds reefs.