Articles 5 & 6: Endangered Marine Life

Threatened Species: a species that may become extinct if measures aren’t taken to protect it

Endangered Species: a species that has a very small population and at a greater risk of becoming extinct

List of endangered marine mammals: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/esa/mammals.htm

Endangered Marine Species

When people hear the words endangered species there seem to be many different reactions.  Some people think about the situation as “whatever, who cares” and others view it as “we need to do something to prevent the species from becoming extinct”.  When it comes to marine life, many of our actions regarding the environment have a major effect on marine ecosystems, habitats and species.  The ocean is a vast environment with many resources that we have access to and utilize; it never appeared to become vulnerable to overexploitation.  It’s hard for most to understand the effect that human actions have on the environment of the ocean and its inhabitants because many of us don’t have the ability to see these animals on a daily basis so there is no way for us to compare and see the threats that are pointed toward these species.  Many marine species that utilize coastal regions are in danger of getting caught in fishing nets and many that utilize the beaches for laying their eggs (such as turtles) lose them to coastal development. There are many different species of corals and fish that are a big part of many ecosystems and the ecosystems wouldn’t be able to flourish without them.   It is harder for biologists to gather information about these crucial species because they are much smaller and harder to gather data for unlike the larger species, such as whales.  Many species have been slowly vanishing from places that they once greatly inhabited due to our actions, affecting their way of life, their ecosystems, and their habitats.  

" Threatened and Endangered Species - MarineBio.org". MarineBio Conservation Society, 14 Jan. 2013. Web. Monday, April 15, 2013. http://marinebio.org/oceans/threatened-endangered-species.asp.

Science Daily : Marine Species at Risk Unless Drastic Protection Policies Put in Place      

In this article the author focuses on the actions that we must begin to take in order to prevent the loss of many of our endangered marine species.  In the articles, a group of researchers lead by the University of California has concluded that we must begin to enforce better protection policies regarding marine life if we want the ecosystems and species inhabiting them to survive.  One of the major problems that the oceans have been experiencing is a rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels which thermally and chemically impacts the oceans.  These rising temperatures and rising carbon dioxide levels will lead the ocean to increase in its acidity.  “Earlier research has shown that ocean acidification can cause exoskeletal components to decay, retard growth and reproduction, reduce activity and threaten the survival of marine life including coral reefs” (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory).  The protection policies that are currently in place to help prevent marine species from being harmed by ocean acidity are to begin to stabilize and reduce atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, further evaluate the oceans reaction to the increase in carbon dioxide and by reducing the carbon dioxide threats of many different ecosystems.  Overall, the team hopes that the policy makers will evaluate all of their potential options for marine management and choose new and improved policies to meet the goals of decreasing the carbon dioxide and the acidity of ocean waters.

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. "Marine species at risk unless drastic protection policies put in place." ScienceDaily, 20 Aug. 2012. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120821094454.htm

I thought that both of these articles were very informational, many different marine species are affected by different things that cause them to be put onto the endangered species list.  It’s interesting how many different species are actually on the endangered species list most that I have never heard of before.  Our actions are a big factor in the cause of marine animals to become endangered and I think it is because we use more than what’s available and we don’t care about the environment when it comes to pollution.  We tend to use way more than what we have available to us, and we don’t understand what the effects of our actions will be until the consequences are visibly present. I think that overfishing could be a big problem when it comes to endangered animals, and we have a high demand for sea food so nothing would be stopping fisherman from gathering all they can.  Also, our contribution of pollution is greatly affecting those animals, making the ocean water more acidic, and I think if we all tried to help we could find a solution to this problem.