Summary
Marine conservation, also known as ocean conservation, is the protection and preservation of ecosystems in oceans and seas through planned management in order to prevent the over-exploitation of these marine resources. Marine conservation is informed by the study of marine plants and animal resources and ecosystem functions and is driven by response to the manifested negative effects seen in the environment such as species loss, habitat degradation and changes in ecosystem functions and focuses on limiting human-caused damage to marine ecosystems, restoring damaged marine ecosystems, and preserving vulnerable species and ecosystems of the marine life. Marine conservation is a relatively new discipline which has developed as a response to biological issues such as extinction and marine habitats change. Marine conservationists rely on a combination of scientific principles derived from marine biology, Ecology, oceanography, and fisheries science, as well as on human factors, such as demand for marine resources, maritime law, economics, and policy, in order to determine how to best protect and conserve marine species and ecosystems. Marine conservation may be described as a sub-discipline of conservation biology. Increasing human populations have resulted in increased human impact on ecosystems. Human activities has resulted in an increased extinction rate of species which has caused a major decrease in biological diversity of plants and animals in our environment. These impacts include increased pressure from fisheries including reef degradation and overfishing as well as pressure from the tourism industry which has increased over the past few years. The deterioration of coral reefs is mainly linked to human activities – 88% of reefs are threatened through various reasons as listed above, including excessive amounts of CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions. Oceans absorb approximately 1/3 of the CO2 produced by humans, which has detrimental effects on the marine environment.
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