How Important Is Our Ocean?

Our planet, Earth, is the only one in the Solar System that has a vast open ocean of liquid water. It is Earth's unique ocean that makes our planet uniquely life-bearing.

Even today, ocean life is far more important in the total scheme of things than plant life on land. There are microscopic plant cells in the top layer of the ocean that produce four times as much oxygen and food as plants on land produce.

How important is it for us, then, to conserve ocean life; to keep the ocean waters clean and wholesome; to protect important kinds of ocean life from growing extinct. We must cherish our wonderfully unique ocean.

• There is no life without water
• The global ocean is the defining characteristic of our planet. It is the original ecosystem.
• The ocean/marine ecosystem is the largest, has the greatest bio-diversity and is the most bio-productive of all ecosystems.
• The ocean/marine ecosystem impacts all other ecosystems.
• Earth is largely marine habitat. Nearly ninety percent of all life forms are marine species. Plankton is the largest bio-mass, more than terrestrial insects and rain forests.
• There are 6,000 mountain ranges under the ocean and forming islands, with 4,000 more above sea level. The wettest ranges are the healthiest.
• More medicines and health products come from the ocean than from land ecosystems.
• Marine sensitive areas are more easily protected than are inhabited coastal areas.

What Priority Should Our Ocean Have?