‘See the halibuts and the sturgeons
‘Pollution’, song by Tom Lehrer: 1965
Being wiped out by detergeons
Fish gotta swim and birds gotta fly
But they don’t last long if they try…’
As we have often discussed before, the idea that there are Seven Seas – as per historical, romantic and ballad-singer narrative – is only correct insofar as names go. Even then, a quick glance at a map of our Blue Planet will confuse you, as there appear to be a lot more than seven named seas, oceans, gulfs and stretches of open salt water. In the 21st century we celebrate the more accurate idea of ‘one ocean’: the vast stretches of water that encompass our planet are all interconnected.
This One Ocean is big: it covers over 70% of the Earth’s surface, and contains no less than 97% of all the water on our planet. It acts as a huge reservoir of heat, regulating the curiously named Earth’s ‘energy budget’ as well as the carbon cycle and water cycle that dictate weather and climate patterns worldwide. The expanse of blue ocean you see stretching away from you as you stand on a beach or harbour wall is absolutely crucial to your survival, and the survival of every living creature you that you share the planet with. Talking of which, the bulk of life on this planet actually lives and thrives within that ocean; the seemingly uninhabited surface is no reflection of what lies beneath.
Humans (as we know ourselves currently) have been around for about 300 000 years, having evolved over a period ranging between 1.7 million and 2.5 million years, depending on which branch of human history you believe. Life in the ocean, however, evolved 3 billion years before any form of life managed to get a foot- (or fin) hold on land. As a result the ocean’s waters teem with an incredible variety of life. It’s worth looking at this array of creatures and plants just to get an idea of a world we know less of than we know of the moon and space; we can stare at the two trillion galaxies that make up our known universe, but are relatively stymied when it comes to investigating an average of a mere four kilometres of salt water. But having said that, we do know a lot that is astounding and is worth sharing.
Known variously as marine life, sea life or ocean life, they are the catch-all phrases for all marine organisms that live in salt water habitats or ecological communities, for life that encompasses all aquatic animals, plants, fungi, and the relatively unknown protists – seldom mentioned single celled organisms whose total biomass is over twice the biomass of all other animals combined…many a mickle makes a muckle, as a Scots grandmother used to propound. As of 2025, around 250 000 marine species have been scientifically documented; conservative estimates put undocumented species at the two million mark. Currently biologists are documenting a further 2 300 species per annum, which tells us we have a long, long way to go still before we can say we truly understand the ocean’s creatures.
Of course, there are other factors involved when it comes to that most voracious of all species – the aforementioned homo sapiens, or us human beings. We are doing our best to reduce the pressure on those marine biologists by both blatantly and inadvertently wiping out species. Through climate change (yes, Mr Trump, it exists) and pollution, we are killing off both known and undocumented species at a rate that cannot be sustained. Overfishing takes care of the bigger inhabitants of the oceans (it’s taken whales over a century to start recovering from the earlier unregulated plunder that decimated their numbers), while climate change through thermal stratification transfers oxygen from lower reaches in the ocean to the atmosphere, depriving these deep living creature and leading to enormous biodiversity loss: so many species we will lose without even knowing they exist.
Pollution is self-evident: we have poured so much toxin and plastic waste into our oceans that there are veritable seas of trash with the oceans themselves. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch covers an area of 1.6 million square kilometres in the Pacific Ocean – twice the size of Texas – and is one of several invasive plastic patches in the global ocean. A recent clean-up there collected 500 000 kg of plastic waste (some of it over 50 years old); this is estimated to be only about .5% of the total weight. Humans should hang their heads in shame, but, sadly, most don’t. The pollution proliferates and the ocean suffers.
Waterfront Charters lives on and loves the ocean, specifically our patch of Atlantic Ocean here at the southern end of Africa. It’s our workplace and our playground, and we are dedicated to spreading the word on the importance of the ocean and the necessity to protect its enormous range of visible and invisible inhabitants from human carelessness and greed. Join us on any day for a cruise on one of our wide range of vessels and you’ll see for yourself the majesty of our environment. You, too, will spread the word that conservation is crucial for future generations.
