Hello!! I am back. I decided to continue writing posts in my blog. I know that my favourite reader will say....finally. Basic idea is still the same..to write about all those things that make our planet so nice, so interesting.
Today I am writing about sea...I love sea. Sea, or ocean as some call it, is beautiful. It is amazing for so many of us. But due to global economic activity sea is in danger more than ever.
As to the article published on the 17th of June 2006 in the UK newspapers The Guardian, in 2005 some 85 million tonnes of wild fish were pulled from the global oceans, 100 million sharks and related species were butchered for their fins, some 250,000 turtles became tangled in fishing gear, and 300,000 seabirds, including 100,000 albatrosses, were killed by illegal longline fishing.
Because of global climate changes the water temperature is rising. Projections made public by climate scientists are not optimistic at all. Sea temperature rise of 1.5 degrees until 2050 could destroy 95 per cent of living coral on the Australia's Great Barrier Reef. It is located along northwestern coast of Australia. It is more than 2,300 km long. It includes 2,900 unconnected coral reefs and some 900 islands. The Great Barrier Reef is one of the richest ecosystems on our planet. Among others the Reef is a home of more than 1,500 species of fish and 400 species of corals.
The rise in sea temperature is not the only factor that affect the health of coral reefs. They are also in danger because of constant changes in sea level, elevated storm frequency and intensity, altered ocean circulation, variation in precipitation and land runoff, and increasing ocean acidification.
Because of rise in level of atmospheric carbon dioxide more and more of this gas is absorbed by world oceans. Level of sea water acidity is rising. Because of lower concentration of carbonate ion sea organisms have problems in creation of their shells. That way they easier became food of predators and environmental conditon can threat them more.
Mass extinctions of marine life due to rise of acidtiy of sea water have already happened in the past. The worst of such extinctions was Permian one which happened some 250 million years ago when 95% of all ocean life disappeared.
Dr. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg from the Queensland Centre for Marine Studies thinks that if sea temperature stabilizes until 2100 corals can regenerate between one and five centuries. Well, let's hope for the best.
That's it. Have a wonderful day. Take care.