Our oceans are dying. So why are we not doing all we can to protect marine wild-life and to rebalance the ecosystem? The ocean supports the life of nearly half of all species on Earth. Since 71% of the Earth’s surface is water, polluting it with trash and toxins is not the way to a so called “green” lifestyle. I think we should protect the water and it’s containing life by changing the way people think. Many couldn’t care less about the situation but my thought is that if you pull those people away from their mirrors and televisions they will see that life is not just humanity. The well being of Earth’s oceans and its aquatic wildlife are endangered mainly by pollution, overfishing, and abusing the power to obtain creatures for use as resources.

Sometimes, we all get lazy but throwing away your trash, better, recycling is one of the most beneficial things you can do for the environment. If every person just threw their trash on the ground think about what a big dump the world would be. Much of the liter by coasts and shorelines gets carried away by wind into oceans. Animals like turtles choke on trash because they think it is food, also, trash and toxins polluting water make it difficult for marine life to breathe. When toxic waste harms one organism it will end up harming a whole food chain of animals. Manmade disasters such as oil spills affect the life cycle of coral reefs and could clog a fish’s gills and kill much of the surrounding life. But on the other hand letting a couple of napkins blow away isn’t going to do much harm and there are controlled landfills that aren’t located anywhere near an ocean or thriving body of water. Most people throw away their trash and recycling has become very popular. Everyone knows that it’s not cool to liter. Also manmade disasters rarely happen and people are always volunteering to help clean animals and shores.

Seafood is one of the finer things in life for some people. Fish and other creatures are scooped in casting nets, catching fish by the thousands. This is done every day killing millions of fish. But that not only affects the fish’s population but also their predators. If there is not enough fish left to provide for their natural predators then their population will also slim down creating a mass chain of decreased population. Other times while fishing, people shoot dolphins justifying that they scare off the fish. But there are people and large corporations that raise their own seafood so they won’t have to worry about fishing a species to extinction. Plus people know when to stop, there is always a good time for catching a kind of fish and we understand that you have to let them reproduce and regain their population before fishing them out again.

Sea creatures are often used as vast resources, more than sushi and fish fillet. People have gotten quite creative over the years, making jewelry with seashells and pearls and whatever they think looks pretty and expensive. More importantly, certain bodies are able to produce chemicals that may be used as drugs; one known marine produced drug could help fight cancer. But this might also start a problem, overfishing for these bodies could lead to an unhappy ending. One of the most highly sought after animals are the blue whales. And although whaling is illegal in many parts of the globe people continue to kill these magnificent creatures for their own luxuries. There is a high demand for resources from the oceans but if we continue to disrupt the sea life we will be in serious trouble. Other people see aquatic life as a natural resource that does not harm ocean life if it is removed. For example, people use seaweed for medicine and food while others enjoy being wrapped in it. Not everything we take harms the sea but we need to regulate the amounts so we aren’t leaving sea life stripped of their natural habitats.

Many things are endangering our oceans and wildlife and so many people don’t realize how much we rely on them. Awareness of endangered animals should be spread across the world. Something needs to be done before it’s too late.