The health of the ocean is spiralling downwards far more rapidly than we had thought. We are seeing greater change, happening faster, and the effects are more imminent than previously anticipated.  The situation should be of the gravest concern to everyone since everyone will be affected by changes in the ability of the ocean to support life on Earth. Some of the major factors caused by pollution affecting oceans' health were:

De-oxygenation: the evidence is accumulating that the oxygen inventory of the ocean is progressively declining.  Predictions for ocean oxygen content suggest a decline of between 1% and 7% by 2100. This is occurring in two ways: the broad trend of decreasing oxygen levels in tropical oceans and areas of the North Pacific over the last 50 years and the dramatic increase in coastal hypoxia (low oxygen) associated with eutrophication.  The former is caused by global warming, the second by increased nutrient runoff from agriculture and sewage.

Acidification: If current levels of CO2 release continue we can expect extremely serious consequences for ocean life, and in turn food and coastal protection at CO2 concentrations of 450-500 ppm (projected in 2030-2050) erosion will exceed calcification in the coral reef building process, resulting in the extinction of some species and decline in biodiversity overall.

Warming: As made clear by the IPCC, the ocean is taking the brunt of warming in the climate system, with direct and well-documented physical and biogeochemical consequences.  The impacts which continued warming is projected to have in the decades to 2050 include: reduced seasonal ice zones, including the disappearance of Arctic summer sea ice by ca. 2037 increasing stratification of ocean layers, leading to oxygen depletion increased venting of the GHG methane from the Arctic seabed (a factor not considered by the IPCC) and increased incidence of anoxic and hypoxic (low oxygen) events.

The ?deadly trio? of the above three stressors – acidification, warming and deoxygenation – is seriously effecting how productive and efficient the ocean is, as temperatures, chemistry, surface stratification, nutrient and oxygen supply are all implicated, meaning that many organisms will find themselves in unsuitable environments.   These impacts will have cascading consequences for marine biology, including altered food web dynamics and the expansion of pathogens.

Continued overfishing is serving to further undermine the resilience of ocean systems, and contrary to some claims, despite some improvements largely in developed regions, fisheries management is still failing to halt the decline of key species and damage to the ecosystems on which marine life depends. In 2012 the UN FAO determined that 70% of world fish populations are unsustainably exploited, of which 30% have biomass collapsed to less than 10% of unfished levels. A recent global assessment of compliance with Article 7 (fishery management) of the 1995 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, awarded 60% of countries a ?fail? grade, and saw no country identified as being overall ?good?.