Daily Times

The contribution of oceans in sustaining economic prosperity of mankind is also very decisive. Almost 90 percent of the global trade by volume is carried out by seas. More than 50 percent of the world populationdwells along the coastal areas and the percentage willrise upto 75 percent by 2025. Considerable amount of valuable minerals and energy resources such as oil, gas, salt, precious metals and oceanic flora,which are used for medicines, arebeingextracted from oceans.Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has reported that more than 3.5 million people around the world consume seafood which fulfills 20 percent of their protein requirements. UNESCO supported the facts that oceans through fishing/seafood industry supports livelihood of820 million people. The number would increase if we add other direct/indirect maritime related employment activities.

While, there are hundreds of thousands of known marine life forms, there are many that are yet to be discovered. It is estimated that 94 percent of life on earth is aquatic. That makes us land-dwellers a very small minority. Hence, oceans are imperative to keep the world livable. This calls for the recognition of immense economic, strategic and environmental value of the oceans and make it imperative to address the issues related to sustainable usage of ocean resources.

In the last century, overexploitation and depilation of marine ecosystem and resource has continued and intensified. Human activities and socio-economic developments have affected the oceans badly. The undesirable change in ocean chemistry, acidification, is attributed to human emission of CO2 in atmosphere. Acidification not only destroys the great reefs but also has the potential to disrupt ocean ecosystems, fisheries, habitats, and even entire oceanic food chains. It is pertinent to mention that coral reefs are known as biodiversity hot spot and fish breeding grounds.

Annually 1 million sea birds and more than 100,000 marine species are killed from plastic thrown in the seas

The factors like pollution and injudicious exploitation of oceanic resources can damage our oceans beyond repair.The fishing industry alone is responsible for 10% of marine debris. Nets and fishing gear get lost or are thrown away into the ocean. These “ghost nets” continue trapping fish for many decades. According to the estimates, every year 6.5 million tonnes of plastic, with all the toxins they contain, pose a threat to sea life and ecosystems. It has been reported that annually1 million sea birds and more than 100,000 marinespecies are killed from plastic thrown in the seas. Largenumber of coastal and marine animal has been documented with plastic in or around their bodies. Situation in Pakistan is not different than rest of the world. A study carried out by WWF – Pakistan revealed that 50 percent of the plastic pollution in and around the coastal areas of Karachi is beach trash. Eventraces of solid waste have been reported on secluded beaches of Baluchistan. Likewise, more than 480 million gallons of untreated sewerage and industrial effluent (combined) is released into the sea from Karachi on daily basis.

While country is striving to built maritime sector on the paradigm of blue growth, we cannot ignore challenges of marine environment and pollution. In all likelihood,diminutionto marine life and environment will have far reaching effects on the national economy. Unfortunately, humans are failed to appreciate the relationship between oceans and sustainably of life at plant earth.We must clearly understand that there are finite limits to what the oceans can provide us and how much we can consume at the cost of future of our generations. There are number of national organizations and government departments working for change/improvement in the satiation. Such as, IUCN and WWF are vigorously pursuing national campaigns on mangroves plantation under various international initiatives, demarcation of Marin Protected Areas (MPA) and development of premium Marine Debris Collection Barges by Pakistan Navy are few undertakings towards healthy oceans.These stepswill definitely have positive impact in coming years; but without addressing the sources of pollution we cannot achieve all-inclusive coastal zone management. For that reason, we all have a general responsibility to protect and preserve our oceans. We must adopt environmental friendly life style and support maritime stakeholders in their efforts to promote blue economy and protect our oceans. Even just by raising awareness about the resources that oceans provide us with – from oxygen to climate, food to minerals and of course; the breath taking beauty of this underwater wonderland -we can do our bit for the protection of this valuable asset.

The writer is a maritime researcher at National Centre for Maritime Policy Research (NCMPR), Bahria University Karachi