What Is the State of the Ocean?
Latitude Nation — In preparation for World Oceans Day on June 8, we’re taking an unofficial survey.
What is the state of the world’s oceans?
In your travels, have you noticed more trash in the water, or has the water been getting cleaner? Have you seen more sealife in recent years, or is it diminishing? Have storm seasons been getting longer and more severe in your part of the world?
We’re also curious about everything adjacent to the ocean. Have you noticed any differences in ports and harbors around the world? Are developing nations starting to clean up their waterways, or do you see trash in the water? Have environmental regulations changed in countries you’ve visited with regard to the prevention of invasive species, dumping of gray water, etc.?
We’re also curious if you’ve noticed changes in your local waters. Do you see less trash in the water than you did 10, 20 or 30 years ago? Do you see more whales, seals and dolphins in the water than you have previously? Have you noticed any significant changes in local weather trends over the years — more (or less) fog, more (or less) wind, more (or fewer) sweltering-hot days?
Please comment below, or email us here.
We were surprized but glad that we really didnt any trash in the ocean between long beach and hawaii in the last transpac race. Only one large floating object. I was also glad of the race requirement of storing all boat trash till reaching Hawaii where it was verified that it was done.
Until about 10 years ago, cetacean (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) sightings in San Francisco Bay were very rare. The occasional report of a lost humpback whale brought out all the local TV stations and more than a few whale watchers. This situation has changed markedly. Now, it’s a rare day to be on the bay and not spot at least 1 pair, and often more, of harbor porpoises or bottle-nose dolphins. Whale sightings are becoming almost commonplace. What’s especially interesting is the proposed reason for this change. Local legend says that cetaceans were common in the Bay prior to World War II when they were excluded by an anti-submarine net stretched across the Golden Gate in order to prevent Japanese subs from entering the Bay. After the war, pollution of the Bay was so bad that the cetaceans stayed away. In the past decade, due to a major effort to clean up the Bay, the cetaceans have returned, much to our delight.
Inland waterways like the Sacramento River are flowing with plastic trash from homeless who leave their messes behind. Taqueria takeout bags, spicy snack bags, and trash litter the shorelines. San Francisco Bay marina parking lots have become hangouts where they dump trash out vehicle windows. The California Government’s tolerance of the bad behavior of homeless allows this. Instead, we are told to have sympathy while they trash our communities.