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World's Oceans Declining Rapidly

A San Diego researcher says the health of the world's oceans are rapidly declining. And, humans are the reason. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has details.

World's Oceans Declining Rapidly

A San Diego researcher says the health of the world's oceans are rapidly declining. And, humans are the reason. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has details.

A Scripps Institution of Oceanography scientist says mass extinctions are likely unless we change how we treat the oceans.

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Professor Jeremy Jackson says major changes are needed now to slow down or reverse what he calls a potential catastrophe. Jackson says overfishing is one of the major threats. Another is the overuse of fertilizer that runs into the ocean creating dead zones.

Jackson: The very essence of the way we grow our food is driving extreme degradation. And then the third big factor, of course, is everything related to climate change:  The rise of greenhouse gases, the warming, the acidification of the ocean.

He says controlling those threats require changes in fisheries, agricultural practices and how we get energy.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.