It’s no big secret that the condition of the world’s oceans, seas, and their ecosystems is deteriorating. Our waters are being overfished and polluted. Sea temperatures and levels are rising. Habitats and healthy coral reefs are shrinking. Microbial diseases are spreading faster. And the ocean is growing more acidic. That’s just a start, and the far-reaching effects hurt everything from polar bears to local economies.
Reports describing our oceans’ decline appear almost daily in the media or in scientific literature. The problem is that, for the general public, it’s difficult to sift through all that piecemeal information and fully grasp the big picture. And for the community of marine scientists, conservation groups, and seemingly endless number of agencies and committees that manage ocean activities (there are some 70 bodies at the federal level alone) there’s no large-scale monitoring system that evaluates progress, or lack of it.
Enter the Ocean Health Index. On Wall Street, we have watched the Dow Jones Industrial Average for 103 years as one gauge of the health of the American economy. The Dow tracks the financial performance of its component companies, but also reveals broader trends in overall economic vigor. Now it’s time to create a Dow Jones of sorts for the ocean, because we have some serious investing to do.
