Environment: What’s a Blue Button?

There’s a sea of reasons to be grateful for that blue expanse. Pradip Patade tells you why.

There’s a sea of reasons to be grateful for that blue expanse. Teen Community celebrated World Oceans Day in June with an unusual sea-based career option. Now, as the island nation of Japan celebrates Sea Day on 23 July, we ask marine biology enthusiast Pradip Patade what we need to thank the oceans for. Here’s what the water sports instructor shares from the shores of Mumbai!

In this article...

• Health of our oceans
• Neglect due to pollution
• Quicksand
• Ill effects of overfishing

You don’t need an expert to tell you that it’s important to ensure the health of our oceans. After all, the vast expanse of water that covers about 71 per cent of the planet’s surface gives Earth a definite identity visible from space. It is because of all that water that Earth is called, the blue planet. 
As for the practical list, check this out: 

• The oceans give us about 70 per cent of the oxygen required for life on the planet 
• They absorb humongous quantities of carbon dioxide, much more than our atmosphere does
• Oceans and seas are an avenue of transport, more economical than air travel
• The monsoon rains, vital for agriculture, depend on the sea for much of their moisture 
• The sea skirts the lives of millions of people. We need to understand that if our seas are healthy, we will also be healthy 
• A considerable population gets its intake of proteins and minerals from the sea 
• If the seas are clean, the sea fish that millions of people eat will be of good quality 
• Edible seaweed will be healthier to eat, too. Seaweed is not just food. It is also used to dress wounds and in dental moulds. It is made into medicines and diet pills. Agar, a product of the sea, is a vegetarian alternative to gelatine and is used in desserts 
• All this means the sea provides employment to millions of people. Our gratitude to the sea should be as deep as the oceans! 

Shortsighted

Yet, we have neglected our seas for hundreds of years. With industrialisation, we began to dump waste from factories and waste into the seas. About 250 or more years down the line, our oceans are full of plastic, chemicals from petroleum oil and other pollutants like construction and shipwreck debris. 

We have been encroaching upon the seashores for decades. We see the result, but do not stop. Sewage spews into our seas, untreated, because sewage treatment plants that should be cleaning the muck, are not functioning. Offshore oil rigs and oil spills, which are an unavoidable effect of oil drilling, pollute our seas further. Natural disasters add to the woes of our oceans. Just to give you an example, in 2005, Hurricane Katrina ruined more than 100 oil platforms. About eight million gallons of oil spilt out into the sea.  

Quicksand

Sand is a major component in buildings, in manufacturing and to make ice-clad roads less slippery. Sand is mined for zircon, titanium, rutile and other minerals. Across the world, the sand that the seas deposit on our shores is being mined or extracted. We scoop sand off from sand dunes, forgetting that nature dumps it there for a purpose: For a natural barrier to break the waves and winds. 

As human greed and need to scoop up shovelfuls of sand from the shore where they are meant to be, we forget that sand mining is causing coastlines to erode. That, in turn, affects local animals and plants. Do the miners ever stop to think of the animals that nest or live on sandy beaches? When they shovel out sand from the coasts or from underwater, the water gets clouded and sunlight cannot filter through. The result? Corals are dying.  If you are wondering how much sand we are removing, it may surprise you to learn that it is a billion-dollar industry.

Fishy, that!

People by the coast have dipped into the waters for fish and seaweed forever and a day. In recent times, however, overfishing has evolved as a term because it has become a real threat to marine life and marine health. Going out in powerful, mechanised trawlers, people catch fish almost more than the breeding rate of fish. According to reports, in just fifty years, overfishing has gone up three times. 

Bycatch

Catching something by chance has always been a possibility. But with overfishing and mechanised fishing, bycatch or the possibility of catching endangered species that you were not looking for, has increased. Millions of crustaceans and sea turtles die because of bycatch.  

Meet the man

Have more questions about Mumbai’s marine life? Email [email protected] or [email protected]

Tags