Global marine populations reduced by half: WWF report

Marine populations have been reduced on average by half globally in the last four decades mainly due to overfishing, marine habitats destruction and climate change, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Wednesday said in a report.

The report, titled "Living Blue Planet," tracked 5,829 populations of 1,234 species between 1970 to 2012, showing that a steep decline of 49 percent of marine populations, including marine mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish.

The new finding said species essential to commercial and subsistence fishing may be suffering the greatest declines, with the dramatic loss of 74 percent of popular food fish that includes tuna, mackerel, and bonitos.

Adding to the crisis of falling fish populations, the report also showed steep declines in coral reefs, mangroves and sea grasses that support fish species. Over one-third of fish tracked by the report rely on coral reefs, and these species suffered a dangerous decline of 34 percent between 1979 and 2010.

According to the report, over-exploitation is the major threat to ocean biodiversity and climate change is causing the ocean to change more rapidly than at any other point in millions of years.

Rising temperatures and increasing acidity levels caused by carbon dioxide aggravate the negative impacts of overfishing and other major threats including habitat degradation and pollution.

However, the report noted much of the activity threatening the ocean is avoidable and solutions exist to change the scenario.

John Tanzer, director of the marine program at WWF International, told Xinhua that areas like Coastal East Africa, the Coral Triangle region in South East Asia and South Pacific are under particular pressure and need urgent attention.

In order to address the overfishing issue, Tanzer said seafood businesses, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and governments have to build more sustainable economic pathways for communities that are currently overfishing.

He named a few options for taking the pressure off coastal resources including fisheries, alternative livelihoods, government adjustment programs, as well as better prices for product and habitat protection.

To reverse the downward trend, the NGO called on global leaders ensure that ocean recovery and coastal habitat health feature strongly in the implementation of the UN's sustainable development goals that will be formally approved later this month. Negotiations on a new global climate deal are also an important opportunity to forge agreement in support of ocean health.

"This year is particularly auspicious for the ocean because of two major opportunities to help it recover," Tanzer said.

The next steps will be for states to drive policy action and investment in the range of options mentioned above, and to bring it all together in science-based, comprehensive marine resources management systems. Endit