The ocean is a powerful and seemingly limitless resource on earth. Covering more than 70% of our planet, our world’s oceans are the origins of all life. With this considered, it’s hard to believe that humans, being just a blip on the evolutionary timeline, have made such a sizeable impact. As the global population continues to grow and food industries scramble to provide, destructive modern fishing methods are becoming increasingly devastating. With bottom trawling, bycatch, explosives and poisons providing the greatest profit, all consideration for the delicacy of marine ecosystems is ignored. Massive nets that rake the ocean floor crush ancient corals and flatten seabeds, wiping out niche habitats for all aquatic life. Endangered species also make up a large percentage of this bycatch, demonstrating our disregard for the conservation of biodiversity. Populations with longer life expectancies and later reproductive ages fall victim to these unsustainable practices, and such disturbances in the food chain have been truly detrimental. For many people the ocean is a foreign place, which leads to a dangerous disconnect that often fosters indifference towards its wellbeing. However, what most don’t realize is the inextricable link we all share with our oceans- they tie all living systems together, and we certainly couldn’t survive without them. Humanity has adopted the dangerous mindset that natural resources exist for its consumption. This mentality is where change must begin: if we are to put time and resources into sustainable practices, we must first learn to see our environment as an extension of ourselves.
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