There is a widely held perception that the ocean is so large, so vast, and so resilient, that nothing humans can do can make a difference. However, another great discovery of the 20th century was that the ocean, like the land, is suffering from the impact of human beings, and we are suffering the consequences. Since the 1950s, 90 percent of the commercially exploited species of fish, crabs, oysters, and clams have been taken. Half of the world’s coral reefs have disappeared, and hundreds of coastal dead zones have developed as a consequence of the flow of pollutants from upstream sources.
For the ocean as well as the land, networks of protected areas can make a difference—not just for marine wildlife, but for the prosperity, health, and security of humankind as well. Presently, less than 1 percent of the ocean has some form of protection. The bad news is that more than 99 percent of the planet’s blue heart is open for a wide range of uses that put all of us at risk. The good news is that nations worldwide are beginning to understand the critical importance of protecting the sea.
In 1972, legislation authorized the creation of National Marine Sanctuaries in the coastal waters of the United States. By 2008, more than 18,000 square miles of ocean were included in 14 marine protected areas, including most of the waters surrounding the Florida Keys.
Since 2006, the United States has protected 340,000 square miles of ocean in the Pacific as national monuments, places where the fish, lobsters, and shrimp are secure. Other nations have taken action, too, from Australia’s protecting the Great Barrier Reef to New Zealand’s protecting its fjords to the island nation of Kiribati’s securing more than 150,000 square miles of ocean around itself. Although most of the national monuments are small, more than 4,000 places in the sea now enjoy some form of special care. They have different names—“sanctuaries,” “reserves,” “marine protected areas”—but to me, every one of them is a “hope spot,” a place that inspires a vision of what can be done to take care of the ocean that takes care of all of us.
There is time, but not a lot, to secure overarching policies and a major network of protected places in the water of various nations as well as in the high seas—the 64 percent of the ocean that lies beyond national jurisdictions. One way or another, all of the ocean needs to be cared for as if our lives depend on it, because, well, they do.
