World Ocean Day - life in it

By Indunil THENUWARA

Life is believed to have started in the oceans. The earliest known forms of life are thought to have developed in the oceans and made their way to land as they evolved. Life in the sea developed over three billion years ago, whereas land-dwellers appeared only over 400 million years ago. Therefore, oceans are described by scientists as the origin of life. Even now, the ocean is home to 80 percent of life on earth.

Being an island nation, the ocean is never too far from us and our lives are very much linked to it. We know the beauty as well as the bounty the ocean brings us. We know and understand the power of the ocean. We also know how the gentle ocean can unleash all its wrath and fury on us.

From the food we eat to the air we breathe, the ocean plays a part in our lives, whether we live on the coast or inland.

Seafood accounts for the largest percentage of humans' protein consumption, with over 83 million metric tonnes of seafood being consumed each year. The ocean is a source of energy, a medium of transportation and provider of a variety of medicines, minerals and natural resources, the weather system, climate and rainfall.

It has also been the inspiration for many art and science projects.

Just as our lives are affected by the ocean, our everyday actions too have an effect on the ocean.

Excessive fishing, pollution, treating the ocean as a garbage dump, destroying of habitat, interrupting the reproductive capacity of oceans and taking the oceans for granted are some such human actions.

Being thus surrounded by the ocean, which is so much a part of our lives, do we need a special day to think about it? Yes, because in the extremely fast-paced, consumerist world in which we live, we have lost our focus on the world around us.

World Ocean Day celebrated on or around June 8 gives us an opportunity to increase awareness about the ocean and how it affects all life on earth.

The event was observed this year for the 17th consecutive time by many aquariums, zoos, museums, conservation organisations, schools and businesses. The celebrations were spearheaded by the Ocean Project and World Ocean Network.

Among the activities around the world to commemorate World Ocean Day, an important event was the establishment of three protected areas for whale sharks by our South Asian neighbour, Maldives.

The islands are some of the few places where these sharks, the world's largest fish, are found throughout the year.

The three designated areas are in and around the Baa atolls Hanifaru and An'gafaru and South Ari atoll Maamigili. According to Maldivian government officials, this decision has been taken to protect and preserve Maldives' "exceptional biodiversity".

Accordingly, the protected areas will see limited fishing, diving and snorkelling under tight guidelines, speed limits on boats to prevent injuries to the fish and waste management programs to prevent pollution.

The World Ocean Day was conceived in 1992 during the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It gives an opportunity to recognise the importance of the underwater world.

The main objective is to create awareness about the ocean and the life in it, how our actions affect it and how we are all inter-connected.