Today is World Oceans Day. This is a good opportunity to speak a bit more about oceans. They cover 71% of the Earth surface and contain 98% of our planet water. They are also the home of aquatic life, which is 94% of life on Earth. However, we know very little about the oceans. We know only a small amount of the species that are living in the deep oceans. We have studied the moon before the sea floor and the rumour is circulating that we explored less than 5% of the oceans.

But oceans are important and pretty useful for humans. In fact, they are giving us oxygen and taking some of our carbon-dioxide emissions, regulating our weather, giving us food, giving us medicine, jobs and many other opportunities. We are a lot to love the oceans and living along the coast or taking holidays there.

But the oceans are under threat, because of many human activities. One of the most important pollution problem touching the oceans is plastic. This is why the theme for the World Oceans Day 2016 is "Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planets" and focuses on preventing plastic oceans pollution. Around 80% of marine litter originates on land. The problem is that people let plastic going inside they oceans just thinking that it will go "away"; but as Sir David Attenborough is saying, "there is no away because plastic is so permanent and so indestructible, when you cast it into the oceans, it does not go 'away'". Plastic pollution is not respecting boundaries and scientists found micro plastics everywhere, even where no human being is living as in some parts of the Arctic Ocean. But plastic is respecting streams, and some are all leading to the same place. They are called 'trash vortexes', plastics are transported and converge in the oceans where currents meet. You can find these vortexes in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Some of these vortexes are bigger than the state of Texas, USA.

Another problem of plastic pollution is the consequences on marine biodiversity. Fish in the North Pacific ingest 12 000 to 24 000 tons of plastic each year and 97% of Laysan Albatross have plastic pieces in their stomach. Animals can think that small pieces of plastic are food but they can also get caught inside bigger pieces of plastic. Of course plastic is not the best food option for them but as it is everywhere they can even absorb micro plastic without noticing. The thing is that plastic degrades really slowly and the amount of plastic inside oceans is increasing each day. You can read more about plastic pollution into the oceans here: http://saveourshores.org/what-we-do/pollution-prevention/

At an international level, a machine was invented to help taking back this plastic, it is the Ocean Clean Up. It is a process of extraction by a floating network of barriers, the website also invites people to do prevention as part of the process. They also want to work on continental water as putting mechanisms of plastic interception into rivers. This invention is now into the process of creation and will be tested later.

But everyone can do something at his small level to avoid this pollution. For example, you can say no to straws or use your own cotton bag. You can do a lot of things to help the oceans, you can find example in this page:
http://www.oneworldoneocean.com/blog/entry/10_ways_to_help_save_the_ocean .
It is going from the seafood that we are eating to be a responsible boater, passing by spreading the awareness among your friends and community.

Sources:

http://www.oceanicinstitute.org/aboutoceans/aquafacts.html
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/exploration.html
http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/habitats/oceanscoasts/explore/five-reasons-we-are-all-connected-to-oceans.xml
http://plasticoceans.net

Image source: 

Surfrider Foundation; https://www.surfrider.org/programs/plastic-pollution