uy ny me protect our oceans Why we protect our oceans WHY PROTECT OUR OCEANS? People need ita brane watrt den fet eat new mec sclirte we can in bey ‘uc esas ane get xp n Eat hey ae he a age Me spp sys To Sue ant poser, eal eed Peay oer. Oceans grea haf of the jen pple eae. Ay [Buen momare morethnn SPF te ws wae esas oceans Oces pede ich fea! Eup a Ten beret poming sien Meche ae a anal ‘he ryan prot ofthe wer oceans lars or human, Our su, ut nom, ur vey stale heathy cere, ‘wher ne wart caged cece ore ney researc mentor o enocemer ss, Weare “trting sme the orate fr sof us sn fre eneratons.Eien Toot andres News andViews. Suppor the project Protect Planet Ocean is about Marine Conservation Protect Planet Ocean is an initiative by IUCN with the collaboration with UNEP-WCMC ‘+ back to the list Why are oceans important? nahn, Teo on ey ent i gan 8 fa ftw omgon mo scrter,ondabsb he Cozaar ab od of ane anasto They ran oe ‘Sacomes ane oneLife-giving Slime Itis estimated that marine plants produce between 70 and 80 percent of the oxygen in the atmosphere. Nearly all marine plants are single celled, photosynthetic algae. Yup, that’s right, good of” scum on the pond....green gak.....slip siimein’ away. Even marine seaweed is many times colonial algae. They are a bunch of single cells trying 410 look like a big plant (see ‘seaweed photo), but they are really individuals. ‘We need marine algae a whole lot ‘more than they need us. Think about it, 70 percent to 80 percent ‘of all the oxygen we breathe ‘comes from algae! Without them ‘we would really be sucking wind, ‘but not for long! At this point, you may be saying, “Yo! What about Seaweed are not plants, but are algae. Not only do algae provide much of the Earth's axygen, they are also the base for almost all marine life. Green algae get their color from chlorophyll and exist on or near the surface where there is plenty of sunlight. Green algae {are not as common in the ocean as brown and red seaweed. It is also more closely related to land plants than any other type of algae. Source: Washington State Parks the trees and other land plants Trees and other land plants are very important, no doubt about i. But for pure survival, we couldn't make it without algae. ‘Why does so much of our oxygen come from algae? First of all, remember that the oceans ‘cover about 71 percent of this planet and land is only about 29 percent. If we assume that, ‘every square mile of the ocean produces as much oxygen as every square mile of land, ‘then this makes sense. The oceans would produce about 71 percent and the land 29 percent of the oxygen we breathe. Looks like we are in the ballpark, don't you think?