The Atlantic's At-Risk Marine Life Requires Improved Protection From Increased Commerce

According to a new study from the University of Portsmouth, there has been a significant rise in shipping in the North-East Atlantic.

Scientists are now warning that additional monitoring in the region is needed to help conserve sea creatures on the endangered list.

Researchers at the University of Portsmouth revealed that shipping rates in the North East Atlantic region increased by 34% during a five-year period.

The rate of shipping increase in Marine Protected Areas is much more obvious, and experts are concerned.

The analysis of vessel movements in these sensitive situations indicated a 73% rise in the same time span.

Sealife in the Atlantic needs better protection

(Photo : RICARDO FIGUEREDO/AFP via Getty Images)

The paper, published in Marine Pollution Bulletin, is the first comprehensive examination of maritime activities in the North-East Atlantic.

Data from approximately 530 million vessel locations collected by Automatic Identification Systems were used by the researchers (AIS).

They examined the changes in shipping from 2013 to 2017 across 10 different vessel categories.

The research region included waters around Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

According to James Robbins of the University of Portsmouth's Institute of Marine Sciences, this change is expected to place increased strain on the marine ecosystem, which may have repercussions for the maintenance of exposed and at-risk species.

A renewed monitoring effort is required to verify that protection measures are enough to conserve threatened species in a changing environment with a growing human footprint.

This rise in traffic in marine protected areas may have consequences for the species that these areas are meant to conserve, as per ScienceDaily.

Shipping may have a wide range of effects on the maritime environment, with some of the most serious problems relating to non-indigenous species spread, noise, chemical, and air pollution, collisions with animals, and marine trash.

Shipping has been identified as a possible mode of inadvertent migration for more than half of the non-indigenous species present in European seas.

Once introduced, the species may become established and invasive, wreaking havoc on the ecosystems they infiltrate.

The Convention on Biological Diversity has identified invasive species as one of the most serious threats to world biodiversity.

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Ocean threats

Human activity endangers the health of the world's seas. More than 80% of marine pollution is caused by land-based activities.

From coral bleaching to sea level rise, entire marine ecosystems are altering at a rapid pace, as per the National Geographic.

Global warming is altering ocean chemistry and several oceanic processes, affecting many marine animal species that cannot adapt to higher temperatures.

Overfishing is a significant issue in many places of the world.

Conservationists argue for the establishment of large marine reserves in order to safeguard the ocean's biodiversity.

Sea levels are rising as a result of global warming, threatening coastal population centers.

Many agricultural chemicals and fertilizers wind up in coastal waterways, causing oxygen deprivation that kills marine plants and shellfish.

Sewage and other runoff from factories and industrial facilities enter the seas.

Oil spills contaminate the seas, despite the fact that water-sewage treatment plants in the United States release twice as much oil each year as ship spills.

Almost one-third of the hazardous pollutants and nutrients that enter coastal regions and seas are caused by air pollution.

Poisonous algae, cholera, and other plants and animals have infiltrated port waters and upset the biological equilibrium.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, 31.4% of fish stocks are overfished.

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