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SIDNEY Editorial

AFP

Only 13% of the world's oceans can still be considered wild and this small fraction could be reduced to 50 years due to an increase in shipping, pollution and overfishing, According to a scientific study

An international team of researchers has badyzed the human impact on marine habitat, when runoff and sea freight increase.

Scientists led by Kendall Jones, of the University of Queensland, mapped underwater areas considered virgin and ecosystems "essentially free from human disturbance".

According to their study published in the journal Current Biology, most of these wild areas are found in the Arctic and Antarctic oceans as well as in the most remote islands of the Pacific. Coastal areas close to human activity are those where marine life is less flourishing.

" Marine areas that can be considered intact are becoming increasingly rare as the merchant and fishing fleets expand their field of action to almost every ocean in the world and Sediment runoff buries many coastal areas, "Jones said.

" Improving marine transport technologies means that the more remote areas and the wilderness could be threatened in the future, including areas formerly covered by ice and now accessible because of climate change. "

According to researchers, only 5% of areas that remain wild are in protected areas. The rest is more vulnerable.

Scientists call for stronger international cooperation to protect the oceans, combat overfishing, limit underwater mining and reduce pollutant runoff.

" The three wild marine regions are vital habitat at unparalleled levels, including an abundance of species and genetic diversity, which gives them resistance to threats such as climate change. climatic, "says James Watson, of the Australian Wildlife Conservation Society 19659004] " We know that these areas are in catastrophic decline, their protection must be the object of agreements and if they are not, they will probably disappear in 50 years "

in an international agreement that would govern and protect the high seas.

" This agreement would have the We can rotate the great outdoors on the high seas and this could be our best chance to protect the last fauna, "says Jones.