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Our Starving Oceans:
The Decline in Plankton
Plankton refers to the whole assortment of tiny, often microscopic, living things in the ocean. These organisms are the starting point, or bottom of the marine food web, and the health of the whole system depend on sufficient plankton levels. There are two primary types of plankton that scientists have been concerned with are phytoplankton and zooplankton. Phytoplankton is the fertilizer for the zooplankton supplying them with important nutrients to survive. Many fish and some mammals depend on them for their food source. As a result, animals higher on the food chain are facing mass starvation. Besides the fact of them being the fundamental food link for the ocean phytoplankton also contributes to the global production of oxygen and carbon dioxide absorption.
Researchers have been observing the trends in the plankton for about 70 years. Sir Alister Hardy invented the Continuous Plankton Recorder Survey or CPR for short in 1931. Robert Falcon Scott first used the CPR on the British Royal Research Ship on his expeditions to Antarctica (Kreeger, Gamble 32). The device would record the abundance of plankton in a predetermined volume of water. Hardy had determined that if he deployed several of these devises he could trace seasonal and annual changes in abundances. This data was used to provide a unique base line to compare fluctuations in fish abundance and suspected environmental changes. Mike Colebrook, former director of the survey explains:
As the CPR Survey grew over the decades, in terms of the routes it covered and the decades it spanned, the value of the data has totally transcended the original concepts. Today, the survey is tackling phenomena as large as global climate change. (Kreeger, Gamble 33)
There is an extraordinary list of statistics that convey the surveys history. The CPR has traveled nearly 4,000,000 miles; thats over 150 times around the world by ships from 10 different countries resulting in over 165,000 samples as of 1992. Some of the routes the CPR has traveled were in the North Sea, North Atlantic, English Channel, and along the North American eastern seaboard. In the North Sea the data on fisheries David Cushing a biologist had discovered the link between the abundance of fish and plankton (zooplankton) a favorite food of juvenile fishes. The data collected over 15 years 1962-1978 had indicated the production of plankton had shifted from April to May. This changed the commercial wealth of important fish such as cod and haddock.
In more recent years technology has given us the capability of viewing the earths atmosphere via satellites. Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) aboard NASA"s Nimbus-7 Satellite used in late 1979-1986 to measure carbon per year. Also there is NASAs Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Senor (SeaWiFS) used in 1997-2002. The SeaWiFS measures the amount of light coming out of the ocean at different wavelengths on the spectrum, and can determine the strength of the greenness coming form the tiny plants cells (Staff Writers). Researchers have claimed that the plants productivity has been declining since the early 1980s throughout the worlds oceans. The microorganism phytoplankton in our oceans, account for about half the transfer of carbon dioxide from the environment into plant cells by photosynthesis. Land plants pull in the other half. Therefore in our atmosphere CO2 is a heat-trapping green house gas. So the result of the declining plankton causing less photosynthesis the effect then is the increase of atmospheric CO2. Scientists have discovered that the result then of the seas getting warmer would interfere with the vital upward movement of nutrients from the deep sea. This in turn would starve the essential plankton, which is at the base of the marine food chain. This could have catastrophic implications for the entire marine ecosystem. Watson Gregg, of NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center had stated:
Its difficult to say what the implications are, but they could be pretty significant. The whole marine food chain depends on the health and productivity of phytoplankton. (Toner)
Researchers having also been studying the plankton levels off the shores of California for the past 50 years. John McGowan a marine biologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography has studied the California current had found that the abundance of plankton has dropped about 70 percent in the past 20 years, which has had a ripple effect on the local species. These species depend on the plankton for food. Sea birds have declined 70 percent and there was a 50percent drop in fish larvae. (DeSeve Let us examine the geographic determinant in relationship to the decline of plankton. The increase in global warming has on the Artic polar icecap melting which could potentially lead to a lull in the Atlantic Conveyer current that pushes warm water to northern Europe, causing a decline in plankton and consequently, the supply of fish. This is resulting in a global change in geography. Marine species are very sensitive to fluctuations in temperature changes in climate and atmosphere conditions create high risks to them. There is evidence showing the thinning of the ozone layer above the Antarctica. UltravioletB radiation is able to penetrate the waters affecting the photosynthesis and the growth of phytoplankton. This also is going on in shallow waters, including areas off the cast of Florida and the Bahamas. This is striking the organism at its most vulnerable stages of life. Since higher temperatures cause the water to expand, a warming world may generate violent and frequent storms. With these storms come intense waves and winds eroding at our costal barriers, seawall and levees that protect our many coastal communities. Massive thawing could provoke flooding of coastal areas worldwide. This could catastrophically change the world geography, as we know it leaving much of our prime real estate underwater.
The cycle of flooding will probably be permanent in some cases such as in the Chesapeake Bay. Here the rising sea levels have been eroding the beaches and the wetlands. Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge has lost close to one-third of its land area over the past three decades, and many once rich bottomland farms are now either water logged or too saline to sustain crops (Hinrichsen 56). Louisiana has been losing between 24 and 40 square miles of coastal land each year for the last four decades (Fujita 21). Recent studies suggest that the areas that will be most devastated are the tropics and warm temperate regions, which are heavily populated. The Mediterraneans southern coast, west coast of Africa, South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and the Maldives), all coastal states comprising Southeast Asia, and low-lying coral atolls in the Pacific and Indian Oceans (Hinrichsen 56).
In contrast to the rising sea levels John L Daly argues that the prediction are only theoretical and there is no concrete evidence supporting them. He supports his theory with the records from Stockholm, Sweden where the sea levels are falling.
This phenomenon is known as Post Glacial Rebound (PGR). During the last Ice Age, the region in which Stockholm was located was buried under several kilometers of ice. The Ice Age ended about 10,500 years ago with a rapid melting of the ice sheets over Europe and North America. Their melting resulted in sea level rise. And with the ice gone the earth began to force the crust upward because the dead weight of the ice no longer was present. This process has gone on since the last Ice Age, is happening now, and will continue to do so well into the future. (67)
Researchers having such opposing opinions may lead to a stagnant resolution to our ever so change world. Whether our land masses are increasing or decreasing due to global warming they are shifting.
The second determinant to discuss is the demographic correlation to plankton decline. There are two points of interest to be mentioned in regards to demography. First is the effect population has on the plankton globally. Second is the consequence of the decline of plankton in our oceans, concerning the worlds population.
First point as people move into coastal areas and further stress the seams between land and sea, coastal ecosystems are losing ground. Human activities for example cause much offshore contamination. This is not just prominent of coastal properties; contaminates flow from rivers and tidal estuaries, where it bleeds of into the sea. The cars we drive, the burning of fossil fuels (petroleum, coal, and natural gas) and even when we watch our TVs we are releasing carbon dioxide into the air. These air pollutants are then carried off into the wind and deposited off shore. With Chinas rising economy and their thirst for technology, the automobile and oil, along with India and Brazil they are the largest players in the future of our planets climate. China comes second in line with 15 percent of the worlds green house gas emissions next to the United States. The experts are saying most likely in about 20 years China will be the largest emitter. Under the internationally agreed Kyoto Protocol (entered into force) on 16 February 2005 as developing nations they are not required to limit their emissions. As of April 2006 there are 163 countries signed this agreement. Untied States and Australia have signed but currently declined to ratify it. From the nutrients-rich sediments, fertilizers, human waste to toxic heavy metals and synthetic chemicals the fallout for the human society ends up in the constantly fluid and turbulent seas. Everyday living of mankind is affecting the ever so delicate balance of life on this planet. Hence plankton being among one of most sensitive species to our climate change is in jeopardy resulting in an upset within our marine ecosystem.
Let us look at the consequences that societies may be facing in the future if mankind does not bear the responsibility of his actions towards the planets ecology. The demographics of many countries will be affected by the upset. The welfare of about 200,000,000 people around the world depends on fishing as a form of income and food resource. (McGinn 21) As rising tide of pollution that suffocates marine life many of the coastal communities that depend on fishing for their way of life will disappear. The small boat owners will not be able to compete with the large vessels owners.
Furthermore, the heath of more than 1,000,000,000 poor consumers who depend on minimal quantities of fish to constitute their diet is at risk as an ever-growing share of fish-83% by value continues to be exported to industrial countries each year. (McGinn 22)
Therefore striking the aquatic species at their most vulnerable stages of life could have devastating impacts on world fisheries production.
The other issue to be addressed is the population displacement of countless coastal countries due to the rising of the sea level. Figure 1 below illustrates the projections of rising sea levels and the loss of land worldwide.