The oceans are a mysterious and wonderful place
home to a mind-boggling array of
different habitats and some truly
shall we say fascinating animals?
But you only need to glance at the headlines
these days to see that they're in pretty big trouble.
The good news is though all's not lost at sea.
We've got a plan for ocean protection
something that we call 30 by 30.
We're talking about protecting at least
30% of the world's oceans
by 2030.
That's the minimum amount of protection
required this decade that would allow our
oceans to properly recover.
But why stop at 30%?
Why not go big and aim for
I don't know, 100% instead?
And that's why I'm here
to address the elephant seal in the room.
Alright mate.
Firstly let me just paint you a picture of how
much of the oceans are protected right now.
Only around 3%
of the oceans are properly protected
meaning that any destructive activity
like industrial fishing is banned.
You don't need to be a maths whizz
to understand that this leaves
the majority of our oceans extremely vulnerable.
Other than industrial fishing
our oceans are also threatened by
oil drilling, the climate crisis
and even deep sea mining.
Yeah, there's a whole industry that wants
to mine the sea floor like actual Bond villains.
Over 3 billion people in the world rely
on fish for their diet or livelihoods.
Many coastal communities have lived in
harmony with the oceans for hundreds of years
taking only what they need without
disrupting finally balanced ecosystems.
Unsurprisingly we're in this mess
because of big business
which is posing a direct threat to
the way of life of frontline communities
causing fish populations to collapse
and threatening more and more
marine animals with extinction.
The fact is we all rely on the oceans to survive.
As well as for food
we also need them for the air we breathe
they produce half the Earth's oxygen
and also to help fight climate change.
The deep sea is the largest reservoir
of stored carbon on Earth.
What's extraordinary about our oceans
is that when left alone they can bounce
back at amazing rates.
And the best way to allow them to
recover is to create a network of
Marine Protected Areas or MPAs.
These are areas where all harmful
industrial activity is banned.
Introduce MPAs in 30% of our oceans
this decade would allow them to properly
recover and cope with small-scale
fishing in the remaining 70%.
Or, you know
activities that don't completely
disrupt or destroy entire ecosystems.
I know this may not seem like much at first
but it would cover an area roughly
the size of South America, North America
Europe and Russia combined.
that's around 70 million square kilometers
where our oceans can be left
alone to recover and thrive without
any destructive interference.
Banning industrial fishing
and other destructive activities
in these protected areas would also benefit
small-scale fishers through what's
known as the spillover effect.
The spillover effect is a biological phenomenon.
If you protect part of the ocean specific to the ocean
no fishing, or very limited fishing
what happens is the animals actually prosper.
They grow bigger, they lay more eggs
and as they get bigger
some of them spill over. They move into
the parts of the ocean that you fish.
So that's why we're calling for 30% protection
this decade and not 100%.
Because making the oceans completely
off limits to all fishing is
neither feasible nor ethical.
Especially as it's not small-scale fishers
who got us into this mess in the first place.
To save our oceans
protect communities
and tackle the climate and nature crises
we need a network of Marine Protected Areas
across the global oceans.
As with most environmental issues
there's lots of money and power
in maintaining the status quo.
And destructive and greedy industries continue
to lobby governments against ocean protection.
That's why it's up to all of us
to demand proper protection for our oceans.
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