The endangered Hammer Shark

I myself never realized how endangered the Hammerhead Shark was until today.  it is really due to human activity.
Again according to http://edweirdo.hubpages.com/hub/North-America-Top-10-Endangered-Species-List , "Found in tropical waters around the world, the Hammerhead Shark is endangered due to both legal and illegal commercial and sports fishing practices. The Hammerhead is often caught as bycatch by longline and other commercial fishing methods, and once they're caught their mortality rate is 90%. The sharks are often caught intentionally for the sole use of their fins, which are used in Asian shark fin soup. The fish are caught, their fins sliced off, and then returned - still alive- to the sea, where they subsequently bleed to death. While this practice is banned in several countries, it continues elsewhere thanks to the high price paid in Asian countries. The estimated Hammerhead Shark population has decreased by more than 50% over the past 10 years."  This is a scary thought knowing how damaging us, as humans, are to marine life.  

Leatherback Sea Turtle

These sea turtles are highly endangered.  According to http://edweirdo.hubpages.com/hub/North-America-Top-10-Endangered-Species-List , "The eggs are often stolen by humans for consumption as a delicacy, and in Southeast Asia the species is all but extinct due to this activity. The hatchlings are vulnerable to attack by birds and fellow sea creatures, and as a result very few survive into adulthood. Those that do survive are often killed by pollution or from ingesting discarded balloons and plastic bags, which closely resemble jellyfish, their natural prey."

Endangered North Atlantic Right Whale

North Atlantic Right Whale is highly endangered right here in the United States.  

Endangered Sea Turtle

This species of sea turtles, Kemp's Ridley, is critically endangered.   

Endangered Marine Species

I found many lists of the endangered marine species.  There are way too many to list.  It was quite alarming to see how many they were.  Here is a link to one of the full lists: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/species/esa_table.pdf  You may not know all of those marine species, but some you may know are: Bluefin Tuna, Leatherback Sea Turtle, Hawaiian Monk Seal, and etc.  If you go through the list you will see many whales, coral, seals, turtles and etc.  If you read through this blog I touched upon some of the causes of Mass Species Extinction in the ocean.  Humans ruin oceans and we have to help stop this.  Please spread the word.

Bird Covered in Oil

Turtle Eating Plastic

Penguins in Oil Spill

Seal Stuck With Net

Solutions to Marine Pollution YOU can do at home

An individual can do many things to stop pollution in their home and/or lifestyles.  To start, stop using plastic bags.  Plastic bags are a big danger to marine life in the oceans.  You can easily make the switch over to reusable bags. Also instead of buying plastic water bottles, buy a reusable metal water bottle.  This will help save the ocean AND it saves you money.  Recycling is also important to limit the over flow in landfills that end up in the ocean.  Stop littering and warn others about the dangers of littering.  You can also volunteer your time at a beach and help clean the beach.  You can make this a fun task by inviting friends down to help out too. 

Solutions to Pollution

There are some solutions to pollution.  We may not be able to undo the damage we have already done to the ocean, but we can help prevent more damage.  In order to do this we can: 

•  "Stricter government regulations on industry and manufacturing
• Renewable energy sources so off-shore drilling no longer needed
• Limit agricultural pesticides
• Proper sewage treatment
• Cut down on waste and contain landfills" http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Solutions_for_Ocean_Pollution It is important that we work together with our governments to stop further pollution of our oceans.  We can bring awareness by spreading the word and writing letters to our congressmen.  The world must unite together.

Seal Damaged by Human Pollution

Pollution on Beaches

Marine Pollution affecting mass species

 Marine life is affected greatly by our pollution.  There different types of pollution including, but not limited to: oil, fertlizers. seas of garbadge, sweage disposal, and toxic chemicals.  We also have alot of plastic pollution including plastic bags that can sufficate marine life or by ingested by marine life and plastic six pack drink holders for bottles which choke marine life.   
http://www.dse.vic.gov.au says this about marine pollution:

"Marine pollution in the environment can result in short term and long term impacts to the health and well-being of native wildlife. Pollutants in the environment can result in the contamination and loss of habitat, food sources and possibly even a reduction in breeding success.
Animals that are smothered with oil or other forms of polllutant often experience external effects such as:

• skin lesions
• irritation or ulceration of the eyes, mouth, nose, etc.
• destruction of the insulation and water proofing properties of the feathers, making seabirds particularly susceptible to temperature variations and hypothermia (chilling)

Seabirds that are smothered with oil are particularly vulnerable to internal damaging effects through ingestion because of their behavioural tendency to preen their feathers. Ingestion of oil or other chemical pollutants can cause chemical poisoning, with impacts on the gastro-intestinal tract, respiratory tract, brain and other organ systems."

Solutions to Coral Reef Loss

The main way to address coral reef problems is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and tackle climate change.  In order to do this governments have to be willing to take part.  So far no governments have shown they are trying to reduce this, but if people unite together to bring attention to this issue, governments will take notice.  As an individual you can spread the word and start petitions or just sign one.  Coral reefs are very important to our ocean and I encourage everyone to read more about them.

More in depth about Coral Reef Loss

I found alot more out about Coral Reefs on Global Issues.  here are some more facts:

Status of Coral Reefs Around the World, 2004 also notes (p. 21) that “The major emerging threat to coral reefs in the last decade has been coral bleaching and mortality associated with global climate change.”
As explained by Rob Painting on the popular Skeptical Science blog, bleaching can occur for a number of reasons such as

• Ocean acidification
• Pollution
• Excess nutrients from run-off
• High UV radiation levels
• Exposure at extremely low tides
• Cooling or warming of the waters in which the coral reside  
• That is what bleached coral looks like.  Very dead.

More about Coral Reefs

Coral Reefs are like undersea rainforests.  They are living and house many types of marine life.  Sadly, most of them are in danger and being wiped out.  People take coral illegally and big nets scrape across the sea floor destroying them.  I found some facts on globalissues.org.

• 20% of the world’s coral reefs have been effectively destroyed and show no immediate prospects of recovery;
• Approximately 40% of the 16% of the world’s reefs that were seriously damaged in 1998 are either recovering well or have recovered;
• The report predicts that 24% of the world’s reefs are under imminent risk of collapse through human pressures; and a further 26% are under a longer term threat of collapse;

— Clive Wilkinson, Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2004 [PDF format], World Wildlife Fund, p.7

threatened coral reefs

Overfishing Rap

I found a rap on youtube about overfishing.  It is catchy, but it includes many facts.  Remember overfishing is one of the many causes of mass species extinction! 

Seaturtle caught in net

Sharks dead from Bycatch

Bycatch adding to the problem of Mass Species Extinction

Bycatch is part of the cause for mass species extinction.  Bycatch is when fisheries catch fish other than the ones that they target.  Many times the bycatch is thrown dead or dying back into the ocean. Greenpeace says that, "In some trawl fisheries for shrimp, the discard may be 90 percent of the catch. Other fisheries kill seabirds, turtles and dolphins, sometimes in huge numbers.
 Latest reports suggest that around eight percent of the total global catch is discarded, but previous estimates indicated that around a quarter of might be thrown overboard. Simply no-one knows how much of a problem this really is."  This means spreading awareness is very important for bycatch.  Often times bycatch goes by unreported.  Many marine animals including birds, die this way.  In fact greenpeace also says, "It has been estimated that a staggering 100 million sharks andrays are caught and discarded each year. Tuna fisheries, which in thepast had high dolphin bycatch levels, are still responsible for the death of many  sharks. An estimated 300,000 cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) also die as bycatch each year, because they are unable to escape when caught in nets.
Birds dive for the bait planted on long fishing lines, swallow it (hook included) and are pulled underwater and drowned. Around 100,000 albatrosses are killed by longline fisheries every year and because of this, many species are facing extinction.
Bottom trawling is a destructive way of 'strip-mining' the ocean floor, harvesting the species that live there. As well as the target fish species, this also results in bycatch of commercially unattractive animals like starfish and sponges. A single pass of a trawl removes up to 20 percent of the seafloor fauna and flora. The fisheries with the highest levels of bycatch are shrimp fisheries: over 80 percent of a catch may consist of  marine species other than the shrimp being targeted."