Hello World — Ocean Conservation

Jackson Reinhart
Sep 6, 2018 · 3 min read

Have you ever sat down and watched Planet Earth? The world is so much more beautiful than what we see everyday, but we are ruining it. More and more trash is being thrown into the ocean at an alarming rate, and although there are efforts to clean it, the trash is still growing. The Pacific Garbage Patch is now twice as big as Texas now containing over 1.8 trillion pieces of trash, read more here. Ocean conservation is becoming a pressing problem as the pollution is threatening species, overfishing and illegal fishing habits are also running some populations dry almost to the point of no recovery. Watching documentaries about the planet and the world’s wildlife proves just how amazing Earth is and shows why we need to start saving and preserving it.

Having grown up fishing and boating with family and friends, I have always been passionate about keeping waterways clean and safe for the wildlife. I live on the Kanawha Canal and James River in Virginia so kayaking, canoeing and fishing have been a part of my life since I was a kid. Living on the canal and river I have seen first hand issues with pollution and water conditions. Just recently, Virginia allowed people to begin eating the fish from the river since there used to be a mercury problem in the river. My family will occasionally kayak down the canal picking up trash and the kayak will be full of trash in matter of minutes. Every time it rains all of the litter from the streets will just flow into the canal dirtying the water and ruining the scene. The trash and chemicals filtering into the waterways are ruining the fish and other wildlife populations with more and more dead zones popping up. With this problem being so easy to prevent by not littering and recycling, we need to start acting now.

Watching documentaries on the oceans and the earth is one perspective, but until you actually go and see these places for real does the impact of the beauty finally hit you. There’s really no other feeling like being out on the water watching whales or sea lions or whatever it may be swim around in the wild and how everything is in harmony. My personal experiences and trips include Alaska, the Caribbean, and the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Now even these few locations are struggling with their various issues with the human populations. Chesapeake Bay has been overfished and oysters are at a critical recovery level. The species out of the Bay are also getting more pressure every year as the crab and oyster craze is only growing and expanding around the east coast and beyond. One study in 2011 actually called for “halting oyster fishing” completely as the population has decreased almost 100% since its peak in the 1800s and 90% since 1980 (Fears). You can read the rest of the article here. Alaska already has lots of restrictions on the commercial salmon fishing and plus lots of effort towards wildlife conservation and preservation.

My future posts will cover most issues with ocean conservation focusing on overfishing and pollution with occasional posts about recreational fishing and other marine topics. I will be researching organizations working to end these problems such as SeaLegacy and 4Ocean, which I have supported already and hope to continue by helping with clean up efforts and spreading awareness. Education about these issues is key, but also giving people a reason to want to help. By presenting recreational fishing and other fun activities, I hope to motivate people to get involved to save the oceans and local waterways.

340 Degrees Fahrenheit

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