Our Oceans Fact File
This is about our oceans. Possibly facts you are unaware of.
As divers we see some of this first hand and we want to make a difference.
FACT
1 million sea birds and 100,000 Maine animals dies from plastic pollution every year.
100% of baby sea turtles have plastic in their stomach.
The great pacific garbage patch is around 1.6 million square kilometres.
Every day around 8 million pieces of plastic makes their way into our oceans.
1 in 3 fish caught for human consumption contain plastic.
A plastic bag was found at 36,000 feet deep in the Mariana Trench.
It is estimates that we humans directly dump 220 million tonnes of hazard waste into the ocean.
Land run off including soil, mixed with carbon, phosphorus, nitrogen and minerals is huge threat to the oceans and its inhabitants.
Ocean acidification is the continuing decrease of seawater pH caused by absorbing of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.
The oceans provide food, jobs, means of transport, sport, entertainment and ingredients for medicines.
50% of the earths oxygen is produced by ocean plants like Posidonia.
Every year, around 5,300 different natural and new compounds have been isolated from marine sponges. Such compounds proved to have antibacterial, antiviral, anti fungal, antimalarial, anti tumour, immunosuppressive and cardiovascular activity.
It is estimated that humans kill 100 million sharks globally each year. However, researchers accept it could actually be as high as 63 million to 273 million a year. There may be around 5.25 trillion macro and micro plastic pieces floating in the open ocean.
Plastic accounts for 75% of marine litter.
The average time a plastic bag is used is just 12 minutes. The time it will take to degrade is not actually known but it is estimated to be around 1,000 years.
Our Vision
Engage and educate the young.
Change minds sets.
'No one will protect what they don't care about; and no one will care about what they have never experienced'.
Sir David Attenborough.
The young people are tomorrows leaders and decision makers. We can get people to dive and see for themselves the issues facing the oceans.
Only by experiencing the issues first hand will people understand and care about the issues.