In Alofi, Niue on July 5, 2023, National Geographic Pristine Seas, with the Governments of Niue and Tofia Niue, embarked on an underwater journey in the R/V Argo to explore the coral reefs and sea life down there. They did this to discover what needs to be done in order to expand the life of sealife, specifically coral reefs.They were able to make 236 dives, 11 deep-water camera deployments, survey more than 300 species of fish, 60 species of algae, and 121 species of coral. Through doing all of this, they are trying to protect the ocean’s biodiversity from different threats.
This article is related to environmental science because it is a good example of how different groups and humans are trying to solve the decreasing ocean biodiversity, and lengthen the lives of Coral Reefs. Alofi has one of the largest elevated coral atolls, and the oceans there are under protection of the Marine Spatial Management Plan. This is what more countries around the world should be doing, as there is a high increase of tourism, climate change, and just less ocean care in general. Ocean biodiversity and coral reef life is at risk, and in the area that is being explored by this group, ocean biodiversity is very high. I think that other countries need to follow in the footsteps of this one, as I think it will really make a difference. If we get enough coverage and protection plans, I think life under the sea has a better and longer chance.
I agree with you points, to figure out what need to be done to fix the problem we need to survey the damage that has been done first. But what is our next step when we are done surveying the biodiversity of the ocean? We have restored ecosystems on land but is there any trouble in restoring ocean ecosystems. How deep are the dive going to and how deep are they going to fix the issue. How are they also going to clean up and waste with damaging the wildlife?
I think there is a lot more trouble restoring ecosystems in the ocean, because we have less access to it. However, there are different ways we are able to try to fix the problems. For example, in one of my other posts, there is a method of using different trees to create place holders of coral reefs. They act just like reefs and give a home to so many animals. If we continue coming up with creative ideas like this, I think we will be able to restore ocean ecosystems as best as we can. I think that it is not too hard to clean up waste without damaging the ecosystem, because this waste being gone will only help the wildlife, they are not benefitting off of it. Thank you for the questions!