Human impact on the oceans of the world
A study in the journal, “Science,” by an international team of 20 scientists from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom has assessed the human impact of 17 activities upon the oceans of the world. The team was led by Dr. Benjamin Halpern of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) in Santa Barbara.
The study shows that climate change, fishing, pollution and other factors have heavily impacted almost half of the marine waters of the world. Only about 4% of ocean waters remain undamaged, much of them near the poles. The study divided the oceans of the world into 1-square-km areas and examined all known data on the areas, assigning each a “human impact score.” The two biggest drivers in destroying marine habitats were climate change and overfishing. Results were compiled into color-coded maps showing human impact on the oceans of the world.
The study immediately invoked memories of Soylent Green (set in 2022 – Hollywood may have gotten the timing right) in me.
The results of the study were presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston, Massachusetts. The Marine Impacts KML can be downloaded from the NCEAS site at UC Santa Barbara to view the accumulative impact map in Google Earth.
-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo
