Why help the ocean?

Why Help The Ocean?

I am sure you have heard stories about how important it is to help the Ocean, but only a few people know how much it is suffering. Humans kill millions of marine life each year due to industrial fishing, shark finning and killing, and plastic waste. According to the Montgomery Herald, the marine life population is half of what it was in the 1970s. This means if humans continue their actions, the oceans will collapse, which will cause us to become extinct. 
Plastic currently fills up our Ocean. According to Plastic Pollution, 8 million metric tons of plastic are put into the Ocean annually. This is a massive problem because there are already 150 million tons in the Ocean. Marine life can easily mistake plastic for food or get caught in it. According to Conserve Turtles, over a million Dolphins, turtles, fish, sharks, birds, and other marine animals die yearly due to only plastic debris. Plastic debris also breaks down into microplastics. Microplastics are fragments of any plastic less than 5 mm in length. Some microplastics are smaller than the eye can see, and getting them out of the Ocean is tough once they are broken down. According to Quartz, "People worldwide unwittingly consume roughly 5 grams of plastic each week during daily life, or about the weight of a credit card…" The majority of the plastic that we consume is microplastics. Microplastics are in our waterways and our food. It is our job to limit our plastic intake to keep Earth alive.
Overfishing is also very unsustainable for the Ocean. According to Oceana, 40 percent of the world's catch is bycatch. Bycatch is unwanted fish and other marine creatures caught during commercial fishing for different species. This means nearly half of the animals caught by industrial fishing are caught for no reason. According to World Wild Life, 300,000 marine animals are killed by bycatch yearly. It is hard for animals to be able to reproduce fast enough, which is causing the number of endangered marine life species to rise. The number of aquatic animals that industrial fishing companies kill is very unsustainable. If we let them continue, we will see effects in our lives in the next ten years. We must realize how many innocent animals are killed for no cause. 
Many people think sharks are dangerous and scary, but they have one of the most important roles in the Ocean. According to The Inertia," It averages out to two to three sharks killed every second, over 11,000 every hour, over a hundred million every year." (USA Today). If this continues, Sharks will not be able to reproduce fast enough and will become extinct. If the sharks become extinct then their prey (fish) will overpopulate. This imbalance will disrupt the entire ocean ecosystem, leading to catastrophic consequences. We all have a responsibility to prevent this from happening. 
You may think, 'Well, if the ocean died, it would not affect me,.' But the truth is, if the whole Ocean died, we would be right behind them. According to the National Ocean Service, "...50-80% of the oxygen production on Earth comes from the ocean." The Ocean supplies most of the oxygen we breathe. We would not be able to survive without the Ocean. Our lives are intricately connected to the health of the Ocean. 
Overall, humans kill millions of marine life. Overfishing, plastic use, and killing sharks are all pathways to the Ocean's ecosystem collapsing. The world needs to become more aware of how severe this problem is and why and how it will affect us. Without the Ocean, we would not be here.