Oceans

Plastic is choking our oceans. An estimated eight million tonnes of plastic end up in the sea every year, killing and harming marine life. It can be accidentally eaten - turtles mistake plastic bags for jellyfish and seabirds’ stomachs can become full of plastic waste, stopping them getting the essential nutrients they need. Very small fragments of plastic are also found in our oceans and are making their way into our food and water. These ‘microplastics’ are pieces smaller than 5 mm and can come from cosmetic and cleaning products, tyres wearing down on roads, washing synthetic materials, and larger pieces of plastic debris breaking down. All types of microplastic can be easily ingested by animals such as plankton, which pass the problem up the food chain. Coral reefs are also suffering from plastic pollution. By getting lodged in the coral, plastic has been shown to affect coral health, which in turns affects all the many animals dependent on coral reefs. We’re working on ways to reduce the plastic that ends up in our seas, but there are things we can all do to help by cutting down our own plastic usage.

We need a well-planned, holistic approach to managing the world’s overcrowded oceans, to avoid further damage and user conflicts. Only around 4% of the world’s seas have official, legal protection (compared to around 16% of the land). Most of our oceans aren’t well managed – particularly in places where resources and capacity to manage, monitor and enforce regulations are limited. We want to see effective ocean management everywhere, and at least 10% of the planet’s oceans officially protected by 2020 (which governments around the world have already committed to).

Fishing isn’t a problem. Unsustainable fishing is. Worldwide consumption of fish has doubled since the 1960s, and now around 90% of the world's main fish stocks are now at or below sustainable levels. The numbers may be worse than we know. As much as a quarter of all fish caught are ‘illegal, unregulated and unreported’. Millions of fish are wasted every year too, caught unnecessarily and thrown back dead (called ‘discards’). Millions of other creatures, including mammals like dolphins, are accidentally killed in fishing nets or hooks – referred to as ‘bycatch’. It is essential that fish stocks and the oceans are managed sustainably to support the food and nutrition needs of billions of people.

Almost a third of the world’s oil and gas comes from under the sea – from the tropics to the Arctic. Testing, drilling, oil spills all take their toll on ocean wildlife. And new technologies make remote and deep-sea drilling and mining more of a possibility, and a risk. Even the green, renewable forms of power like wind and wave energy, which are better for the environment in general, have to be carefully sited and managed to avoid damage to sealife. We’re working with industry and decision-makers to reduce the risks from energy production at sea.

Ocean traffic has tripled in the past 20 years, and is increasing fast. Around 90% of goods are shipped by sea, and shipping lanes around the UK are some of the world’s busiest. As well as the danger of collisions and disturbance of sealife, there’s the pollution. Not to mention toxic paints used on ships, and 'invasive species' transported around the world. We’re founding members of the Sustainable Shipping Initiative, working with the shipping industry to help steer it towards a low-carbon, sustainable future.

Oceans absorb most of the planet’s excess heat. Sea temperatures are rising, melting Arctic ice, impacting coral reefs and leading to some species to migrate. The extra carbon makes seawater more acidic. Bad news for sea creatures like krill that are vital to the marine food chain – which affects predators like fish, penguins, seals and whales. It is disastrous for coral reefs too, home to over a quarter of all ocean wildlife. We’re working on several fronts to help tackle the causes and effects of climate change.

Coral reefs globally are facing unprecedented pressures and are particularly sensitive to climate change and extremes in temperature. Most hard corals grow thanks to a symbiotic relationship between the coral polyp and zooxanthellae - essentially algae - that through photosynthesis produce glucose, energy, to enable the hard corals to thrive. However when seas are particularly calm with high temperatures the zooxanthellae are expelled which eventually results in the hard corals "bleaching", turning bright white. This weakens the coral skeleton which become fragile and they are rapidly overgrown by seaweed. Climate change is increasing both the number of calm days and sea temperature at certain reefs and therefore the risk of bleaching events and die-back of hard corals. Using a robust methodology coral reef scientists identified the 50 coral reef complexes that are most resilient to the impacts of climate change (Bayer et al 2018) and which, if conserved, have the ability to regenerate shallow water coral reefs globally. WWF is therefore embarking on a “Coral Reef Rescue Initiative” and has identified seven countries namely, Cuba, Tanzania, Madagascar, Indonesia, The Philippines, Solomon Islands and Fiji, where WWF will prioritise our support for the conservation of reef complexes. Securing reefs across these prioritised sites would help support 120 million people that particularly utilise them for their livelihoods and food security; as well as vitally securing 70% of the regeneration potential of shallow water reefs globally.