All oceans are scary. But are they really? Is the Atlantic scarier than the Pacific or is it the other way around? Ocean life has been viewed many different times and ways almost every year. Many oceanographers have found a collection of different items about and in the ocean like how each one has about 1,000 or more species. But, we always end up losing someone due to a shark attack or something unknown. People for a long time have tried to figure out what is really in the deep dark parts of those salty bodies of water but no one has yet to figure out the main reason. 

We think that oceans don’t have much importance to them but in reality they do. Oceans have been used then and are being used now for transportation, economic benefits, food, medicine, and climate regulation. Making up about 76% of all of the United States  transportation is the ocean. It is being used to carry all of the United States trade imports and exports. Along with transportation, food is also a part of the ocean life because yes, it provides seafood, but people have found the ingredients to make peanut butter and soymilk. Now, its economic benefits is that the U.S. 's ocean economy makes up about $282 billion in services and goods that help provide for the transportation and food roles. Ocean-dependent businesses are increasing rapidly since they have employed three million people. Another benefit that the ocean gives us is our climate regulation. This means that while it covers 70% of the Earth’s surface, it moves the heat from the equator to the poles, and that regulates our climate and weather patterns. It is surprising to say this but the ocean provides for us medicine ingredients that are used to help people who have cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, and heart diseases. Many of those products used in the medicine that have those diseases are from the ocean. All in all, the ocean has its benefits even if we don’t see them, we use them almost every day. 

While the ocean has its benefits, it also has its threats that a lot of people talk about the most when the topic ‘oceans’ comes up. The major dangers that oceans are having to deal with today are pollution, global warming, overfishing, plastics, and habitat destruction. Most of the hazards that oceans are facing come from us, humans. “More than 80 percent of marine pollution comes from land-based activities,” (National Geographic). Meaning that the way we live our lives affects the ocean. When we litter, the salty water will pick it up and the sea creatures like turtles, fishes, marine mammals, and much more will be trapped in that item and may die from drowning, suffocation, and starvation. Back to the other dangers, global warming can cause sea levels to rise making it hard for the coastal population centers to get a hold of it. Pollution, specifically air pollution, is the cause of toxic contaminants and nutrients that when entered, affect our coastal areas and oceans. While that is happening, another hazard is colliding with that called, overfishing. Overfishing causes the ecosystem to be unbalanced. “About 22% of marine mammals and 90% of seabirds are at risk of extinction…because many of the habitats they depend on are decreasing in size or being damaged,” (Department of Conservation). This means that these animals are so close to being dead and probably not coming back again since people have been killing or hurting too many types of fishes to realize what they have done will affect other species of that animal. These hazards that’s happening right now affecting the ocean and its ecosystem all in one. 

Although the ocean’s ecosystem is unbalanced and hurting, there are ways to help support, conserve and protect the ocean’s health. The major ways of helping the ocean is to conserve water, reduce waste and pollutants, using less energy, shopping wisely, fishing responsibly, and respecting the habitat of these sea animals. You can use less energy by choosing energy efficient for your light bulbs and not oversetting your thermostat. Shopping wisely is meant to be using more reusable bags rather than plastic bags since plastic can hurt the environment of the ocean and cause more plastic pollution. When you are reducing pollutants, you are choosing nontoxic chemicals, disposing pesticides, herbicides, and cleaning products properly. In essence, there are a vast amount of ways that you can reduce the amount of bad and help increase the good. 

The ocean’s environment and ecosystem gets affected everyday by human choices. The ocean has many benefits like transportation and having ingredients to medicine products. The ocean’s importance is valuable towards biodiversity, regulating our climate, and the essential ecosystem services. Slowly going extinct and being polluted are the hazards of the ocean that are also happening day by day. To help support, provide, and conserve is what we should do for the sake of the ocean's future. 

Works Cited

US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “How Can You Help Our Ocean?” NOAA’s National Ocean Service, 28 June 2016, oceanservice.noaa.gov/ocean/help-our-ocean.html. 

“Threats Facing Our Oceans.” Marine, www.doc.govt.nz/nature/habitats/marine/threats-facing-our-oceans/. Accessed 30 May 2024. 

“Threats Facing the Oceans and Their Species.” Environment, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/ocean-threats. Accessed 30 May 2024. 

“Why Should We Care about the Ocean?” NOAA’s National Ocean Service, oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/why-care-about-ocean.html. Accessed 30 May 2024.