DATA: HUMAN IMPACT ON MARINE ECOSYSTEMS 2008 (NCEAS)
[Status: Available at TerraViva! GeoServer.]

More than 40 percent of the world’s oceans are heavily impacted by human activities - fishing, fertilizer run-off, commercial shipping and pollution - according to “A Global Map of Human Impact on Marine Ecosystems” released by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at the University of California-Santa Barbara. Heavily impacted areas are evident in the North Sea, the South and East China Seas, and the Bering Sea.

“The extent of human influence was probably more than any of us expected,” said Dr. Kenneth Casey, of NOAA’s NGDC and co-author of the study. As management and conservation of the oceans turns toward marine protected areas, ecosystem-based management, and ocean zoning, the data should provide conservation groups and policymakers with a new tool.

Spotlight Archives>>