Here are five of the biggest challenges our oceans face, and what we can do to solve them.

There are two major aquatic or water biomes, the marine biome and the freshwater biome. The marine biome is primarily made up of the saltwater oceans.

Marine biome is found in 5 main oceans: the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian, the Arctic and the Southern ocean.

Human activities affect marine life and marine habitats through overfishing, habitat loss, the introduction of invasive species, ocean pollution, ocean acidification and ocean warming.

Threats to Marine Ecosystems

• harvesting – food and other resources.
• land-based sources of pollution.
• sedimentation.
• introduction of marine pests.
• climate change and ocean acidification.
• urban development – eg reclaiming land.
• 4WD vehicles on beaches.

• Climate change. Climate change arguably presents the greatest threat to ocean health.
• Plastic pollution.
• Sustainable seafood.
• Marine protected areas.
• Fisheries subsidies.

Marine Habitat Destruction. Pollution, logging, dredging, draining of wetlands, and coastal development are all factors that lead to marine habitat destruction.

The Great Barrier Reef will be over within 20 years or so.” According to Veron, “Once carbon dioxide hits the levels predicted for between 2030 and 2060, all the world’s coral reefs will be doomed to extinction… They would be the world’s first global ecosystem to collapse.

No more fish The world’s oceans could be virtually emptied for fish by 2048. A study shows that if nothing changes, we will run out of seafood in 2048. If we want to preserve the ecosystems of the sea, change is needed.

With no changes to current production, consumption, or waste management of plastic, by 2040 almost 30 million metric tons of plastic will end up in the ocean per year. Industry and government promises would cut annual plastic leakage into the ocean by just 7 percent by 2040.

Each year we produce nearly 300 million tons of plastic and by 2050 there will be more of it than fish in our oceans by weight.

Plastics leakage to the ocean might grow to 17.5 million metric tons per year by 2025, and the cumulative buildup could hit 155 million metric tons by that time, doubling today’s levels.

When the Environmental Protection Agency released its plan earlier this month for addressing marine litter, it named five Asian nations—China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam—as responsible for more than half of the plastic waste flowing into the oceans every year.

The report projects the oceans will contain at least 937 million tons of plastic and 895 million tons of fish by 2050.

Once in the environment, plastic breaks down into smaller and smaller particles that attract toxic chemicals, are ingested by wildlife on land and in the ocean, and contaminate our food chain. However, plastics are not destroying our environment and compromising our health by themselves.