The United States is making a big splash to save our oceans by rolling out its first conservation strategy to protect the great blue seas.
In June, the White House released its National Ocean Biodiversity Strategy to help achieve President Joe Biden's goal to conserve around 30% of waters controlled by the U.S.
The conversation plan is a huge win for our oceans, which are home to over 2 million different species. Only about 240,000 of these species have been studied, making it vital to understand more about life below.
Conserving our oceans isn't just for the water-breathing critters. Researchers behind the strategy point to our reliance on oceans for food, oxygen, and more.
"Life in the ocean touches everyone," Gabrielle Canonico, leader of the U.S. Marine Biodiversity Observation Network at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told the Smithsonian.
"Every other breath we take comes from the oxygen produced by microscopic ocean plants, and more than a billion people worldwide rely on food from the ocean as their primary source of protein. But these and other benefits will degrade with biodiversity loss … "
The ocean protection plan is one of many eco-friendly initiatives launched by the Biden Administration, such as the Inflation Reduction Act that sought to help Americans upgrade their homes at no cost while supporting the adoption of clean energy to cool down the planet.
This new strategy is broken into three goals:
Drive delivery of ocean biodiversity knowledge at the national scale
Strengthen tools and institutions to deliver ocean biodiversity knowledge
Protect, conserve, restore, and sustainably use ocean biodiversity
The government is looking to work alongside state leaders, tribes, local communities, and federal agencies to create collaborative solutions and increase access to information about our oceans. This is said to support humans and wildlife alike, as supporting stronger oceans can protect our food and air.
Researchers say that the many unstudied species may help answer questions about how to keep our oceans, coral reefs, and fisheries strong.
"We are advancing frontier technologies for biodiversity science and understanding," Sarah Kapnick, NOAA's chief scientist, told the Smithsonian. "But it is critical that we come together around the use of evidence-based metrics and indicators for decision-making in ocean spaces, and for monitoring, reporting, and verification to ensure that investments in conservation or development deliver the desired outcomes while minimizing negative impacts to ocean life."
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