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Hello and welcome to the Natural World Facts Awareness Project.
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A new series in which I’ll be explaining
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the importance of wildlife conservation and
what you can do to help.
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In this video, I’m joined by Alex Collins,
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a fellow YouTube wildlife
enthusiast and biologist
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at the University of Bristol.
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His channel is linked below,
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I recommend you check it out
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for videos on some of the world’s
rarest species
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and what you can do to help them.
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So what is Marine Conservation?
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Marine Conservation is defined as the protection
of marine ecosystems,
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With the focus of limiting the damage caused to them by humans
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and protecting threatened species.
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The main threats being seen in our oceans
include species loss,
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habitat degradation,
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and changes in ecosystem function.
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Human activities
causing a rise in extinction rates
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has lead to a huge decrease in biodiversity,
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particularly
in coral reefs, 88% of which are threatened
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by excessive CO2 emissions.
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These reefs are among the most important stores
of biodiversity on the planet.
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It takes around ten thousand years for a reef to form from coral polyps,
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and up to 30 million years for
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a reef to fully mature,
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hosting an estimated 25% of all marine life.
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And yet, around the world,
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coral reefs are dying,
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as warming temperatures
and stressful conditions bleach the corals
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white as they are forced to expel the colourful
algae
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on which the coral depends for its survival.
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So, why does this matter?
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Why is marine conservation so important?
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With the world’s oceans currently under
more threat than ever before,
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and with half of the world’s coral reefs having died in the last 30 years,
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marine conservation has never been
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more important than is today.
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I’ve already made some videos
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explaining why
conservation is so important to you
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and why we should save endangered species
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So make sure to check those videos out after
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you’ve finished watching this.
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Put simply, different species rely on each
other for survival.
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If one species is under threat,
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the likelihood is that so is another
species.
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This can have a chain reaction, until
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eventually a whole ecosystem is under threat.
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We need healthy ecosystems just as much as
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the marine life itself,
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because without them,
we’d have less food, less money,
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and with altogether less life on our planet.
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The bottom line is Earth needs healthy oceans, and it is our
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responsibility to protect them.
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So how can we do this?
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One of the most effective methods has been
the setting up of marine protected areas.
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This creates a much safer environment for
marine life,
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undisturbed by the impacts of overfishing,
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noise pollution from ships, and
other human activities.
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Thankfully, biodiversity has been found to increase by 21% within marine
reserves like these.
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We can also use artificial reefs.
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These are man-made structures, built to promote marine life
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and the growth of new coral.
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Artificial reefs have proven successful in providing
a habitat for threatened wildlife,
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These allow damaged ecosystems to recover, and
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valuable biodiversity to regenerate.
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As well as these strategies, we also need
to be careful in the way
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we interact with the marine environment.
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Active
demersal fishing techniques like trawling,
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where a net is dragged along the bottom of
sea floor,
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can be really destructive
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as this destroy ecologically important species
like certain corals.
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Active pelagic fishing techniques, where a
net is dragged through the open ocean,
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can also be just as bad.
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This is because it’s
indiscriminate, meaning that they
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catch anything in their way of net,
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regardless of whether the fisherman
want it or not.
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This often leads to protected animals
like dolphins and turtles being injured
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or killed. For every 1 kilogram of prawns
that are caught and sold in stores,
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nine kilograms of other sea animals are caught as bycatch,
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being injured or killed and then thrown away.
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Marine conservation efforts have been made
to reduce the destruction
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caused by these fishing techniques,
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either by reducing the amount of time of these techniques are allowed to be used
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Or making the technique itself less destructive.
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One example of this, is to use specific fishing hooks which
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are less likely to catch unwanted species.
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Solving these problems does take
a lot of hard work,
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but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do
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if you don’t work as a conservationist.
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So here are some other things that you can
do to help marine conservation.
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Firstly, use your water supply more economically.
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This will not only save you money but it will
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also reduce excess runoff, containing pollutants
and waste into the ocean.
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Secondly, use less energy in your daily life.
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Higher temperatures can cause the death
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of corals, rising sea levels and flooding,
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and more extreme weather which can damage
marine ecosystems.
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Many marine species also
rely on specific temperatures to determine
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what sex they develop into.
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This is called temperature-dependent sex determination,
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and so by changing the temperature we can
throw an entire population out of balance.
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You can also fish more responsibly,
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or just fish less, or not at all if that is
an option to you.
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The same goes for eating seafood.
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Reducing your use of plastics is also essential.
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Ingestion of microplastics (bits of plastic
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which are less than 5mm across) can lead to
bioaccumulation.
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This is where harmful substances
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build up in the food chain and eventually
cause serious damage
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to the species at the top.
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There are just a few things that you should
consider
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when trying to cause less impact to
marine life.
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There are of course plenty
of other things that you can do to help.
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So if you’d like to know more,
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then let us know down in the comments,
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so that we can make another video for you.
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Thank you for watching.
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Subscribe to see more
videos from The Awareness Project.
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Hit the like button and be sure to watch our video
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on the Pine Marten by following the link to Alex’s channel.
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I hope you enjoy.