PROTECTING THE NIGERIAN MARINE ECOSYSTEM

The marine ecosystem is the largest ecosystem after the whole of planet earth because as we all know that water accounts for more than 70% of the earths surface.
For proper understanding, an ecosystem is describes a s the interaction of animals, plants and their environment and they study of how they interact is known as Ecology.
So it is no news that the human life is much dependent on the marine environment because we get some of our foods from the sea. This calls for the protection of the marine environment, because human activities can have a huge negative impact on the marine environment and endanger our entire future. For instance, the shipping trawlers has been found to destroy coral reefs which are important source of food nutrients for the fishes with the bottom of their trawlers. If this is not checked, it would continue to deplete the nutrients in the sea and therefore endanger our future.
This calls for a systematic mechanism to be put in place for the protection of the marine ecosystem.
This is so important that the DG of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, when he was speaking at a 2-day reginal conference on Marine safety and fisheries protection organized by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) in collaboration of the Norwegian ministry of foreign affairs, said that the activities of oil exploration and the resultant oil spills whether onshore or offshore can continuously hamper the ecosystem.

In his words, he said, while tapping into the resources of our marine environment for economic advancement, care must be taken to ensure the preservation of the environment else wealth becomes useless if our environment is damaged.
So in the protection of our marine environment, we must adhere to the following tips to save our oceans;
Make safe, sustainable seafood choices to protect fishes that are depleted more often
Mind your carbon footprint and reduce energy consumption to reduce the effects of climate change which affects our oceans.
Use fewer plastic products. I need not explain this.
Do as little as you can to take care of the beaches.
Do not purchase any product that exploits marine life
Be an ocean friendly pet owner by reading pet food labels
Support organisations working to protect the sea
Be the change you want to see
Travel the orange responsibly
Educate yourself about the ocean and marine life.