June 8, 2021 is the 13th World Oceans Day and the 14th National Ocean Awareness Day, and the theme of this year's event is "Protecting Marine Biodiversity And Harmony between Man and Nature". China's coastline is about 18,000 kilometers long, has rich marine resources, and China's marine biodiversity has an important position in the world, so far China's marine life has recorded a total of more than 28,000 species, accounting for about 11% of the total number of known marine life species in the world, second only to Australia and Japan, ranking third in the world, many of which are endemic to China or rare species in the world.
With the combined influence of human activities and other multiple factors, China's marine ecosystem and biodiversity are gradually under threat, and the living conditions of marine life are worrying. These marine beings need the protection of each and every one of us. In China's seas, there are the following five kinds of endangered marine life, if we do not take timely protection, we may not be able to see them in the blue sea in the near future.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="9" > five endangered marine organisms in Chinese waters</h1>
1 Chinese white dolphin
Chinese white dolphin is a small marine mammal living in the shallow waters along the coast of the western Pacific Ocean and the eastern Indian Ocean, is a national key protected wildlife, and is also the only dolphin named after "Zhonghua", China is the world's most important Chinese white dolphin habitat. It is estimated that the current global number is less than 20,000, and may even be only about 6,000, and the population of Chinese white dolphins in China is about 4,000-5,000, mainly distributed in the estuarine waters south of the Yangtze River Estuary and the Waters of the Pearl River Estuary.
At present, the main threats of Chinese white dolphins are: bycatch, ship collision, habitat degradation, environmental pollution, overfishing and so on leading to food shortages.
2 Spotted seals
Spotted seals are the only pinniped marine mammals that can breed in China's waters and belong to the national second-level key protected wild animals. It is mainly distributed in the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea, and occasionally in the East China Sea and the South China Sea. At present, the number of spotted seals in China is about 2,000. Among them, the icy area of Liaodong Bay in the Bohai Sea is the southernmost of the eight breeding areas of the world's spotted seals, and the spotted seals in Liaodong Bay are reproductively isolated from other spotted seals in the world, which belongs to a branch of the independent evolution of spotted seals in the world, with its own unique genetic genes, so it is of great significance in conservation.
Currently, the main threats to seals are: habitat encroachment and destruction, overfishing leads to food loss, water pollution, poaching.
3 turtles
The famous "living fossil", the turtle, is an ancient species that has survived from the time of the dinosaurs. Among the seven existing turtle species in the world, there are 5 species distributed in China's waters, namely green sea turtles, hawksbill turtles, cockroach turtles, Pacific lirtoises and leatherback turtles, all of which are national second-level key protected wild animals. You may ask, how come the sea turtles we are most familiar with among the 5 endangered marine organisms are also endangered? According to sea turtle surveys in recent years, many historically recorded sites have made it difficult to spot sea turtles.
At present, the main threats to sea turtles are: shrinking spawning grounds due to human activities, illegal capture, marine pollution such as plastic, gender imbalance in breeding offspring caused by climate change, and food loss.
4 Chinese horseshoe crab
It is also an ancient marine creature that has existed on Earth for at least 450 million years, more than 200 million years before the advent of dinosaurs, and has survived multiple mass extinctions. There are two species of Chinese horseshoe crab and round-tailed horseshoe crab in China's waters, most of which are distributed along the coast of Beibu Bay in Guangxi. Because of the so-called food supplement, the horseshoe crab was over-hunted by people, and the number dropped sharply. On the IUCN Red List, Chinese horseshoe crab is classified as "endangered".
At present, the main threats of Chinese horseshoe crabs are: overfishing and utilization, habitat destruction, and human disturbance.
5 Dugong
Dugongs, which can live for more than 70 years, are herbivorous marine mammals, mostly in and out of the seagrass bed or estuarine area not far from the shore, consuming more than 45 kg of aquatic plants per day. Dugong is a national key protected wild animal, and it is also one of the endangered species in China, and the current population is extremely rare. In China, it is mainly distributed in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and the southern coast of Taiwan.
At present, the main threats to dugongs are: ship impacts, entanglement of fishing nets, and habitat shrinkage due to severe degradation of seagrass beds.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="69" > what can we do to protect the oceans and the people who live in them? </h1>
1 Choose sustainable seafood
As more and more people become aware of the harm that overfishing poses to marine biodiversity, some agencies publish "sustainable seafood consumption" lists that list which fish can be eaten and which fish with lower yields are best not to buy and eat. The "MSC" label on the packaging is a sustainable seafood product, indicating that the seafood is wild-caught or farmed according to sustainable principles and has a system of traceable standards.
2 Energy saving and emission reduction
Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide emitted by humans can cause warming, seawater to warm, and too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to acidify seawater, putting many marine organisms at risk of extinction. Usually choosing green transportation to travel, turning off the lights at any time, etc., can reduce carbon emissions.
3 Reduce the use of disposable plastic products
About 8 million tons of plastic waste flows into the oceans each year, polluting the oceans. Not only is plastic difficult to degrade in the ocean, but it can also be eaten by marine life, or wrapped around marine life to cause harm or even death. What's even more frightening is that eventually the plastic breaks down into microplastics, which eventually return to our plates through the food chain.
If you find that marine protected animals are illegally eaten, purchased and illegally hunted,
Please report it to your local wildlife protection department.
Protect the oceans, it's time to do so!
Edit: Wen Jie