Aquaculture & Fisheries

Marine Life & Conservation

Marine life, or sea life or ocean life, is the plants, animals and other organisms that live in the salt water of the sea or ocean, or the brackish water of coastal estuaries. At a fundamental level, marine life affects the nature of the planet. Marine organisms produce oxygen and sequester carbon. Three main groups of ocean life are plankton, nekton, and benthos. Plankton float in the water. Nekton swim through the water.

Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that live in large bodies of water and are unable to swim against a current. The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. They provide a crucial source of food to many small and large aquatic organisms, such as bivalves, fish and whales. The largest group of nekton are chordates and have bones or cartilage. This group includes bony fish, whales, sharks, turtles, snakes, eels, porpoises, dolphins and seals. Molluscan nekton are animals like octopus and squid. Animals that live on the sea floor are called benthos. Most of these animals lack a backbone and are called invertebrates. Typical benthic invertebrates include sea anemones, sponges, corals, sea stars, sea urchins, worms, bivalves, crabs, and many more.

Marine conservation is driven by the manifested negative effects being seen in our environment such as species loss, habitat degradation and changes in ecosystem functions and focuses on limiting human-caused damage to marine ecosystems, restoring damaged marine ecosystems, and preserving vulnerable species and ... Marine protected areas help protect important habitats and representative samples of marine life and can assist in restoring the productivity of the oceans and avoid further degradation. They are also sites for scientific study and can generate income through tourism and sustainable fishing.We can conserve marine  life by several ways like makeing Safe, Sustainable Seafood Choices, Using Fewer Plastic Products, Influencing Change in Your Community.