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by Nur Sakeena (3A, 2022)
It is not too late to save our oceans. The Blue Commonwealth is an agreement by the Commonwealth countries to cooperate to solve ocean-related challenges and work together on a sustainable approach to protect the ocean. Unfortunately, all this while, the ocean has been taken for granted and misused by human beings for their own selfish needs and benefits. Ocean exploitation has been taking place for the past four decades and it is still happening today. This is done through direct and indirect ways. Oceans are directly affected by human activities such as the dumping of industrial waste, oil spillage and illegal fishing. Indirectly, it is also affected by climate change. Thus, it has gone through a lot of endless suffering. Presently, it is still not too late to protect the ocean from destruction because appropriate initiatives and necessary agreements are being put in place by Commonwealth countries.
Governments have put a lot of effort into discouraging human parties from treating the ocean as a waste disposal. Firstly, irresponsible companies in the chemical industry discharge waste directly into the rivers without treating it. This pollutes the ocean, causing abnormal growth in plant life and death to animals due to a lack of oxygen. Human beings also throw trash such as plastic bags and bottles into the drains which leads into the sea. All these actions affect the organisms living in the sea. For example, the leatherback turtle mistakes plastic bags for jellyfish as its food. It eats it and chokes, causing it to die and now the species is facing extinction. Thus, in order to stop such careless disposal, stiffer penalties are meted out to those who discharge untreated waste. For example, after the March 2019 Kim Kim River toxic pollution in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, the perpetrators were immediately charged by the Malaysian government. The Singapore government has also introduced the ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’ (3Rs) campaign. By reducing the amount of waste created, less of it ends up in the ocean. Such measures ensure the humans responsible for this to be more mindful of how they handle waste as compared to before, and cut down on ocean pollutants.
Secondly, oil spillage is harmful to marine life. Oil from oil spills does not only clog blowholes of whales and dolphins, making it harder or even impossible for them to breathe properly, but also disrupts the animals’ ability to communicate. Oil coats the fur of otters and seals, leaving them vulnerable to hypothermia. Oil spills can contaminate their food supply, so when they eat the food, they can get poisoned, causing their deaths. For example, at the beginning of March 2022 in northern Colombia, an estimated amount of 550 barrels of oil was spilled. This killed more than 2400 animals which included cattle, fish, birds and reptiles. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has specified that vessel owners, not cargo owners, are liable for spills. This means that vessel owners have to be responsible when transporting the oil. They will be fined if they do not take responsibility when doing so. Thus, this makes the vessel owners more accountable for oil spillage and would result in fewer oil spill accidents in the future.
Now we should ask ourselves — are we still going to ignore the devastating damage that has been done to the oceans? Will it be too late to save them? I do not think so as although the intensity of awareness has only now increased, the extent of damage caused to the ocean has been unaffected, as supported by scientific evidence. Thus, environment groups have more credible grounds on which to push their agenda of saving the ocean to their respective Commonwealth governments. With climate science proving how severe this issue is, more governments have been successfully persuaded to take more action than before.
The amount of damage done to the ocean in the past ten years has been higher than that done in the past forty years. The rate of damage that has affected the ocean has increased due to escalating human activities, as the human population increases. As the rate is increasing drastically, this is the best time to intervene and make a change. Even though we cannot stop the harm to the ocean, we can at least make a change to slow down the rate of damage that is currently taking place. As Chief Seattle said over a century ago, “We don’t inherit the earth, we borrow it from our children.” Today’s ocean has been borrowed from our future generations, so it is our responsibility to return it safely to them. While a lot of damage has been done, it is still not too late. I believe that my generation will be able to make a positive change and impact so that we will bring back healthy oceans and pass them to our future generations.
Quiz
Quiz
From paragraph 1, name 3 examples of human activities that have damaged the oceans.
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