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Human Impacts on Oceans

Posted on February 15, 2008

From http://environment.newscientist.com/

• 11:27 15 February 2008
• NewScientist.com news service
• Phil McKenna, Boston

Human activities have strongly impacted 41% of the world’s oceans and have left only about 4% of their surface area relatively pristine, according to the first-ever global map of human impact upon the oceans.The new atlas highlights the significant effects humans have had on even the most remote seas and could help guide future conservation efforts, but the findings have also drawn criticism from at least one marine biologist who questions the subjective nature of the ambitious study.The atlas reflects the cumulative effects of 17 different types of human impact – including pollution, fishing, and climate change – on 20 different types of marine ecosystems.”No single spot on this planet is being untouched by human activities,” says lead author Benjamin Halpern, of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in Santa Barbara, California.

‘Immediate action’

Halpern and colleagues compiled expert opinions on the effects of specific human activities on different ecosystems and fed the data into a model that assigned each square kilometre of the ocean a single “impact weight”.The values, ranging from 0.01 to 90.1, reflect the overall effect of all human-induced changes in that particular location. Polar regions came out least affected, while the east Caribbean, the East and South China Seas, and the North Sea were among areas most heavily impacted.”This highlights the need for immediate action that should be taken across different agencies, organisations, and nations,” says study co-author Fiorenza Micheli of Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, California.”Because of the extent of these combined threats, these effects can only be addressed through global cooperation,” she says.

‘Not science’

Andrew Solow, director of the Marine Policy Center at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts applauds the effort, but questions data based on the opinions of individuals.”I think a good thing it does is draw attention to the scale of human activity in the ocean in general, but it really isn’t science in the sense that I as a scientist view science,” says Solow.”They multiply together numbers that are people’s opinions on the impact of a particular human activity on a particular ecosystem”, he says. “It’s a pseudo quantification.”Solow fears the study could do more harm than good. “The danger is people see quantification and think it must come with some precision and scientific basis and when they find out that is not the case, that can undermine any good that it might otherwise do,” he says.

‘Comprehensive data’

The study authors maintain they grounded the numbers with empirical evidence whenever possible and spoke with marine biologists the world over to get the best possible figures.”This represents the most current and comprehensive data we have on human impact on the oceans,” says Micheli.The atlas was unveiled on Thursday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) conference in Boston, US.Journal reference: Science(DOI: 10.1126/science.1149345)

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