Throughout history  most emphasis on  environmental research and exploration has been  dedicated to  terrestrial  communities.  Since  70% of the  earth is covered by water,  it  is  astounding  that  this  large  reservoir  has  been  left  untapped.   Our government has  not  felt the  need to set  aside  monetary  reserves to explore this resource.  Outer space, while of obvious interest to many people, is far removed from our everyday lives.  Yet, research in this area is funded by the government on a scale far exceeding that of ocean exploration.  The sea, by contrast, can be directly tied to our own ultimate survival.   How then can we afford not to probe the oceans for their secrets?

While there are fewer  species  here  than on land,  there is  still a great  diversity of  organisms which inhabit this ecosystem.   Almost every  major division  of  plant and  animal  life has a counterpart  in the sea.    Species  counts  in  the  oceans  are  increasing as further research is conducted.  Yet, there is a huge number of species not yet studied in this environment  due  to its  enormous size  and  the difficulties
encountered by humans in working in such an  inhospitable atmosphere.    If these organisms are stressed to the point of extinction before we can study them, we have no way of knowing how much information that could be vital to our survival may be lost.

Marine organisms often produce chemicals to repel predators or retard the growth of other competitive species.  These chemicals are an important source of medicine for human use in areas ranging from antibiotics and anticarginogenics to cardiovascular disease.   Seaweeds alone  have been shown to  contain substances  we can use as antiviral treatments for cold sores, eye infections, and venereal disease.  In addition, they have proven to  be a valuable source of nutrition.   They are often used as food additives but can also be found in cosmetics and shampoo.  Seaweed tissue may also prove to be a good source of fiber, plastic, and waxes.  All of these uses can be found in one  species of plant  (Thorne-Miller and Catena 13).  What a  storehouse of goods must be awaiting us in the realm of the ocean!

As humans populate more and more of the earth’s land surfaces, other forms of life on our planet are being extremely stressed.   Many people believe that our impact on the environment ends  at the coastline,  but this is nowhere near the case.   We overfish certain marine species,  and we dump our  wastesinto this area in the foolish belief that the sea is too vast to be affected by our use.  Becausewater disperses pollution easily, it is natural to assume that the toxic effects of our wastes are reduced as the pollution  is  spread  throughout  the  water column.   However,  this same dispersal quality also carries solid waste great distances to affect areas far removed from the original dump site.  During a recent visit to an island in Belize, I encountered plastic and garbage washed ashore on the beach that  had  originated  on the  mainland an hour’s boat ride away.   It is easy to see then that this  dispersal quality has a much more negative effect on the environment than we may at first estimate.

Because of their vastness, the oceans of the world are much more stable than the land.  Changes here usually take a long time.   The organisms which live here have adapted to meet this slow, gradual change.   They cannot tolerate abrupt changes. They  are very  susceptible  to the drastic  changes which  we are inducing on their ecosystem today.  We are responsible as a species for the loss or depletion of untold numbers of other species with which we share this planet.

As our terrestrial resources are continually being depleted, it is becoming increasingly more  crucial for  us to explore the ocean  to discover  what secrets it may hold.  Environmentalists like  Dr. Sylvia Earle,  Al Giddings,  and Jacques Cousteau have helped to rase the public's awareness of the importance of this environment.  Yet, we still have a long way to go to fully understand both our impact on this environment and its relevance to our daily lives.