The Ocean covers 71-73% of the Earth’s surface, and 97.1% of our world’s water is found in the ocean and saline lakes, so it’s a very important part of our lives. It provides us with food and water, it helps create weather by evaporating and then joining the water cycle, and algae in the ocean slows down global warming. The ocean does this and many other things for us. 98% of the world fish catch occurs within 200 miles of land. This is where the continental shelves are located. They make up only 10% of the total ocean area, but they are home to 90% of ocean life. Unfortunately, most of our polluting takes place on or near the continental shelves.

There are some people who claim that we don’t need more legislation to protect our oceans. They say that our legislation that is in place now is good enough. The Florida Keys’ Particularly Sensitive Area is one such legislation. It protects certain areas where coral reefs are located, and keeps ships out of those areas, or prohibits ships from anchoring in that area. There is also the Ocean Dumping Act of 1988 which said that all sludge dumping must be stopped by December 31, 1991 or a fee would be charged. Another thing that is being done is creating artificial reefs. Subway cars are dumped into the ocean to create hard surfaces where corals can grow. Many organizations are helping to clean up our oceans, and stop commercial fishing in dangerous areas. The ocean seems to be recovering.

Unfortunately, this is a misconception. The ocean is getting worse. What little legislation we have in place is not enough to stop the everyday destruction. The Ocean Dumping Act may have seemed perfect, but most companies opted to pay the large fee instead of finding another way to get rid of their wastes. At the present speed, there is no way the ocean can clean itself. Although there are a lot of organizations working to help the ocean, they need the help of the government to truly help the ocean.