We are facing “a state of emergency of the oceans”. This was said recently by the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, during a special UN conference about them.
Posted yesterday at 5:00 a.m.
It is urgent to act, but we do not repeat it often enough or loud enough. Generally, the oceans are in our blind spot. Even when the issue of climate change is addressed.
It’s a bit normal, because if the situation is dramatic, it is also, for ordinary mortals, invisible.
We do not realize, for example, the lightning speed at which the oceans are warming up.
Scientists here have sounded the alarm recently and we thank them. Their work is enlightening. And essential.
A few weeks ago, Peter Galbraith, researcher at the Maurice-Lamontagne Institute (in Mont-Joli), reported heat records broken in 2021 in the deep waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Other researchers (Alfonso Mucci, Gwénaëlle Chaillou and Mathilde Jutras) have alerted the Quebec population because the oxygen concentrations in the deep waters of the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence are decreasing in a worrying way.
This is very bad news.
The damage seen in the oceans surrounding Canada (which is the country with the longest coastline in the world) is no exception.
Rather, it is the rule.
Everywhere on the planet, the oceans are plundered, ravaged, and their ecosystems are disrupted.
The magnitude of the decline in biodiversity in the oceans is proof of this. The numbers are overwhelming.
Populations of marine fish “have decreased globally by 38%” over the past four decades, while those of marine vertebrates have fallen by 22%, according to data cited by Professor Philippe Archambault, from the University’s biology department. Laval1.
None of this is surprising, unfortunately. The oceans are on borrowed time not only because they are being plundered, but also because the chemical composition of the sea is rapidly changing. And this is the result of human activity.
The water heats up very quickly and, moreover, acidifies. Because we release an ever-increasing quantity of CO2 in the air. Carbon dioxide, which is absorbed by the oceans, dissolves in water and produces acid.
This is all the more serious as this absorption currently represents a quarter of the CO2 which is in the atmosphere. The oceans thereby slow the rate of climate change. They mitigate its effects.
The oceans also produce half of our oxygen. And of course, they feed us.
Many, including Canada, believe that at least 30% of the world’s oceans need to be protected by 2030. In terms of Canada’s three oceans, we have gone from 1% in 2015 to 14% in the ‘actual hour. It is significant… but insufficient.
Moreover, while the importance of obtaining scientific data on the changes taking place in our oceans is indisputable, some experts believe that Canada’s investments do not match its ambitions.
A few months ago, Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of the famous commander Jacques-Yves Cousteau, published a biographical essay entitled Save our oceans. This octogenarian has spent his life traveling the seas. Few are those who are so well placed to see how much their condition has deteriorated.
But he did not lose hope. It is possible, in particular, “to bring life back to our oceans”, at the cost of significant efforts, he argues, citing as proof the creation of numerous marine sanctuaries.
But the mobilization for the cause of the oceans – including the fight against climate change – still needs to be effective. On this, his message is simple. It addresses the intelligence by stating an inescapable truth. “When we protect the ocean, we protect ourselves. »
1. These data are found in an essay titled Earth, life and usto which Professor Archambault contributed.