The Northern Argentine Sea

MARCOVECCHIO JORGE EDUARDO; DE MARCO SILVIA; GAVIO MARÍA ANDREA; NAVARTE MAITE; FIORI SANDRA; GERPE MARCELA ; RODRIGUEZ DIEGO; LÓPEZ ABBATE M. CELESTE; LA COLLA NOELIA; OLIVA ANA LAURA; ZALBA SERGIO; BAZTERRICA CIELO; GUINDER VALERIA ANA; SPETTER CARLA VANESA; FERNÁNDEZ SEVERINI MELISA DAIANA; ARIAS ANDRÉS; BOTTÉ SANDRA

World Seas: An Environmental Evaluation.

Academic Press (Elsevier)

Lugar: London; Año: 2018; p. 759 - 781

This three-volume set, World Seas: an Environmental Evaluation, is in many ways a second edition to the three-volumeseries published in 2000, Seas at the Millennium (Sheppard, 2000). It contains more than 100 chapters in three volumes:the first two volumes review the coasts of numerous countries or regions around the world (some of the longer chaptersembracing very large areas), while the third volume addresses global issues.In the last couple of decades, it is clear that there has been a continued, one could say relentless, decline in the world?sshallow marine environment and habitats. This affects most places, and has happened during the time when the quantity andthe quality of marine science have increased immeasurably. A benefit of the latter is that it has enabled us to document withever-greater certainty the deteriorating condition of the marine environment and to show that, by and large, the relentlesstrend of decline is being caused by continued unsustainable extraction of marine resources and by direct habitat damage.Overall, the rate of damage now far exceeds the ability of the main shallow ecosystems to restore themselves.In some regions, particularly the wealthy countries, major advances have been made to, for example, water quality, andsometimes definite and very clear improvements are evident from the condition that existed two decades ago. Naturally,this is good and encouraging, and while these serve as a model for everywhere else, they are unfortunately evident andsignificant in a minority of cases. Similarly, with some of the global impacts, controls are being introduced nationally orinternationally which can and do stem harmful impacts. This includes, for example, measures in connection with ballastwater and invasive species spread, with oil spill responses, and others. However, progress is insufficient and, mostly, humanexploitation of the areas and habitats is generally unsustainable.A couple of particularly important warnings emerge very clearly from the chapters in this series. First, there are manyareas in the world where there is still minimal environmental science carried out along their coasts and in shallow habitats.Inevitably, these are commonly in regions and countries where the local population is the most directly and immediately dependenton the ocean and its food or shoreline protection. In other words, the places needing greatest conservation measuresare those where impacts are greatest, where populations are rising fastest and so where the resources are being depletedfastest. Many of the most pressing problems that were summarized so well by many authors 20 years ago still exist, fromunsustainable fishing to degradation of the habitats. The question must be asked: is there really no way to change this sadstate of affairs, given that most of the problems described and analyzed here sometimes have been known for decades?The second warning comes from Volume 3. This contains up-to-date reviews that take a global view of some of theworld?s major, and best recognized, shallow marine habitats, as well as of several major global stressors, both wellestablishedkinds and several newer ones. It might be noticed that global climate change is not dealt with individually inany of the chapters, but the reason is simple: so important is this subject, so huge, and so pervasive are its effects, that almostevery chapter in this three-volume series has sections devoted to it, making it one of the best covered issues of all. Whilethere is no doubt that this is a preoccupying issue for today and for the next several decades, it is equally clear that othersare increasing too, and that these global impacts together with a wide range of more local effects appear to be affectinghabitats in several synergistic ways.In total, the story is not encouraging despite some rays of light in certain areas and systems. By and large, the scienceunderpinning our understanding of the degradation we are causing to our life-support system is perfectly clear. It is certainlyas clear as it needs to be to trigger some much more serious and effective actions. Reversal of the trends, after all, isessential to human well-being.But it is probable that any action will not come from simply carrying out more science. The summary provided here ismore than enough to show to the world?s decision-makers that during the next perhaps 10 or 20 years, we will pass several tipping points for many of the shallow marine habitats Our societies depend on effective action being taken. In some cases,such as coral reefs and some polar systems, it is likely that these tipping points have already passed. The well-documentedstate of our seas now is a matter for communication, political action, and a whole range of sociological and even psychologicalinterventions.