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The ocean’s ecosystem is home to a huge variety of interconnected organisms. They work together in fine balance. Humans are gradually tipping this balance and destroying the ecosystem. A healthy ocean is important to the health of the planet and our existence on it. The use of fossil fuels, overfishing and plastic pollution are all factors in this destruction. Raising awareness and preventing overfishing need to happen to restore the balance. The health of our ocean and indeed our health depends on the action being taken now.
What is an ocean ecosystem?
A marine ecosystem consists of living and nonliving things that depend on each other. Which includes plants, microbes which are like bacteria, and animals. The important parts of marine ecosystems are the quantity of sun it gets, and the oxygen, and nutrients dissolved throughout the water.
There are six main marine ecosystems. They are estuaries, salt marshes, mangrove forests, coral reefs, the open ocean, and the deep-sea ocean. A coastal zone where seas meet rivers is known as an estuary. Estuaries are among the most productive environments on the planet, supporting a diverse range of species.
Soon as though the ocean covers around 71 per cent of the earth, marine ecosystems are a very large part of our planet. They all play an extremely crucial part in our planet's health as well as human health. Ecosystems vary in size, but they all include components that interact and rely on each other. If one aspect of the ecosystem is very likely that the rest of the orgasm will be disrupted in some way.
What are the creatures that ruin our ecosystem?
All healthy and diverse ecosystems are key. And there has to be a balance of prey and predators that are important or else many animals that are normally eaten can then end up reproducing and taking over and causing the ecosystem to go into utter chaos. This is what can happen and minor creatures can turn into a problem. An example is when big snapper or when crayfish get overfished this can lead to an imbalance because these creatures are major in the ecosystem. When big snappers and crayfish are taken out of our ecosystems there is an imbalance of predators which results in the kina going wild and eating all the kelp which is essential as a nursing ground for smaller snapper and is needed to have a diverse ecosystem. When all the kina eat all of the kelp it becomes a kina barren and all of what is left of that ecosystem is just filled up with kina and is just a rocky plain. Many introduced species are also a problem and can disrupt an ecosystem and overtake our native species. This is bad for ecosystems as the introduced species can take out or over key animals. When people take things out of an ecosystem there can be major
consequences that can affect an ecosystem drastically. If we can limit what we take and help build up what we have wrecked, hopefully, it can return to what it was before.
Does global warming affect the ecosystem and how can we stop it
Climate change caused by humans is a threat that is getting bigger to marine ecosystems. Around the world and here in Tauranga. With large impacts on mortality(bad things). Reduced salt and many changes in species are all caused by global warming.
The effects of climate change on marine ecosystems are likely to result in long-term reductions in the biomass of marine animals worldwide as well as unevenly distributed effects on fisheries. According to a recent study, the amount of animal biomass in the world's oceans will decline more dramatically than previously predicted as a result of rising warmth, changes in the availability of nutrients, and changes in food availability.
The great majority of the heat is produced by the increase in glasshouse gas concentrations. Is primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels. According to an Iucn study. The ocean has absorbed a little more than 93% of the excess heat caused by greenhouse gas emissions during the 1970s. Ocean temperatures have been rising as a result of this.
Deoxygenation, or a decrease in the quantity of oxygen dissolved in the water, is caused by ocean warming. Oxygen is one of the most important gasses in the sea, as it is crucial for all forms of higher life. The negative effects of oxygen decline are a reduced amount of biodiversity which are all living things in the ocean in this instance. It can also disrupt the whole food chain and some sea creatures can not live with low levels of oxygen. A study shows that when leaving a low amount of oxygen in a body of water some fish became blind and had other nasty side effects. Global warming caused deoxygenation. Is caused because warmer oceans do not hold as much oxygen and have more buoyancy than cooler waters. This large decrease in the mixing of oxygenated water close to the surface with deeper waters. Which naturally does not contain the same amount of oxygen. Warmer water raises the amount of oxygen you need for living organisms.
The best ways that we can stop this from happening are. Use renewable energy sources, eat the food you buy and if you don't compost it if you can. Stop using as much coal, oil and gas. As those things are the main contributor to climate change. When fossil fuels are used, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, warming the earth. Us humans are the cause of global warming. And if we are not aware of what we are doing and how bad it is for the environment then we will just keep on doing it. This is why we must make people aware of their actions and what the consequences are.
What type of an effect do humans have on the underwater ecosystem (good or bad)
Bad
One of the worst effects humans have on the marine ecosystem is climate change. Climate change caused by humans is a threat that is getting bigger to marine ecosystems around the world and here in Tauranga. With large impacts of death and reduced salt and many changes in species are all caused by global warming. Deoxygenation is also a horrible effect caused by climate change.
Bad
Pollution is the worst effect humans have on the marine ecosystem. We are all guilty of this whether it was on purpose or not. As our expert Josie Crawshaw stated, a big cause of marine pollution is caused by people on boats dumping either their feces or rubbish off the boat. Another big cause of marine pollution is factories dumping industrial waste into the ocean. This usually starts in estuaries and makes its way out to the ocean. This is why we need to reinforce and have people make sure that this does not happen.
Good
There are not very many good effects humans have on the marine ecosystem. But there are a couple of ways we can and have done well. For example, cleaning up the ocean and beach from rubbish. Stop burning fossil fuels. As they are the primary cause of global warming/climate change. Mr Mcfarlane is one of the good effects humans have on the underwater ecosystem.
What are key sea creatures to restore the ecosystem?
Krill are small fish found in the ocean. They play an enormous part all around the ocean. Whales, seals, fish, and penguins depend on krill as a vital food supply. These animals, depending on their mass, eat a very large amount of krill to stay alive. If krill went extinct there would be no food for many animals in the southern and southwest Pacific oceans. They would depend on other things to eat. Many animals could die of starvation without krill.
About 20 times as much carbon dioxide is absorbed by kelp and other marine vegetation as it is by an acre of forest on land. Making it extremely useful in times of greenhouse gasses and mitigating them. Kelp forests are also an essential element of the marine food chain because they absorb nutrients like nitrogen from the water and make them accessible to a range of organisms that eat their leaves.
As one of the top predators in the ocean, sharks play a crucial role in the ecosystem. By maintaining the species in the food chain below them. And helping the health of the ocean. They have a big influence in killing/removing the weak and sick. They help to ensure species diversity. As the main predator in the ocean, the prey they feed on is always moving around. Which alternates the diets of all other species. Sharks unconsciously control seagrass and coral reef habitats.
Snappers are an extremely crucial part of the ecosystem in Tauranga. As we now know, kina are one of the most destructive animals in our ocean's ecosystem. Snappers control and eat kina. By overfishing, we are also getting rid of snapper but letting kina take over and slowly destroy our ecosystem. Human activity will lead to a decrease in snapper and an increase in kina by overfishing. Snappers are targeted to catch recreational and commercial fishers. Snappers sell for around 45 dollars per kg making them very valuable for commercial fishermen. Snappers are also targeted by illegal fishermen.
What do humans need to do to restore the ocean's ecosystem?
Humans have done more damage to the ocean than any other creature on earth. How can we help restore our ocean ecosystems? A method that is probably the most effective and sensible to try and stop the effect of kina would be to stop overfishing their natural predators so that the balance of predators and prey is restored and then the kina population would dwindle and be kept at bay as a long-term solution. We need to tell people and get people to try and know the consequences that what they are doing or contributing to could have on an underwater ecosystem. Marine reserves will be key as they can protect many key species and build a good strong ecosystem for young and old sea creatures that would benefit from the area. This would mean more big fish and less kina no littering as it would be illegal. Marine reserves will not be able to be implemented in many key places like harbors or straight off the coast due to the usage and trouble that it may cause people and the port. A substitute would be telling people about what they should do and what they shouldn't. This is only good if people keep on telling people about this and that people listen or even just see the things that they should do. Also, people would have to keep enforcing the rules and the things that have been told to the public. People need to know and get informed or else people will not know what they are doing is affecting our ecosystems and they will not know what to do to help.
Graph
When commercial fishing first came into place in 1931. There were a lot of snappers to catch until the big decline in the amount caught from 1939 to 1945. This is because World War 2 took place during this time. During this time there was not much availability for commercial fishers. After World War 2, the amount of snapper caught stayed pretty much the same until 1986. 1986 was when TACC ( total allowable commercial catch) came into place and you could only catch a certain amount of snapper. The number of snappers that were caught went down because you could only catch a certain amount.
Conclusion
Our thesis for this report and inquiry is “What should be done to restore the ocean ecosystem in New Zealand '', through this we have looked at many factors that have affected NZ ecosystems. Some of the factors that have affected our ecosystems are things like global warming, and overfishing as they are negatively affecting animals. For our Thesis we think that the best way to help NZ ecosystems is to stop overfishing and make people aware of the consequences of what they are doing, we will also have to reinforce the rules and help people understand and stop them as well. We need people to make the right choices to save our marine ecosystems. Can you help?
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