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 Saving Our Living Seas The ocean covers 71 percent of the earth's surface and comprises vast, dynamic biomes that are among the richest and most productive ecosystems on Earth. Intertidal areas, coral reefs, seagrass beds, open ocean, and deep-sea habitats form an integrated network of species-rich ecosystems that serve critical ecological and biological functions. However, these habitats are important not only for their roles within an ecological system but also because when intact, these biomes support an enormous level of biological diversity. In fact, the diversity of the ocean exceeds that on land at the level of phyla, and entire categories of numerous life forms (not just species) are found exclusively in the sea. Moreover, the ocean is exceedingly productive and attractive to human cultures, thereby enabling marine systems to support enormous levels of economic activity. Consequently, nearly half of the world’s populations reside within the coastal zone. Marine ecosystems are already heavily impacted by these relatively dense coastal populations and associated economic activities. Threats stemming from sedimentation, eutrophication, freshwater diversion, toxin inputs, radioactive dumping, oil and gas mining, overfishing and destructive fishing techniques, solid waste disposal, poorly managed aquaculture, and global climate change will rapidly accumulate thereby undermining the integrity of these important marine systems at all scales of assemblage. Marine ecosystem complexes are ecologically sensitive and exceedingly valuable places that are under enormous, and in most cases, largely ignored pressures. In undermining the health of the ocean, we risk the extinction of species, the loss of important habitat, and the destruction of corridor-level functions that could seriously compromise the life-sustaining processes of the planet. Trouble for the ocean clearly means trouble for humankind. CI works to conserve biodiversity in some of the world's most biologically rich and productive ocean environments. These regions include:
For more detailed information on these regional programs and other current initiatives, go to http://portals.conservation.org/marine.
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 © CI, Sterling Zumbrunn A green sea turtle near Ecuador's Galapagos Islands.  © CI, Gerry Allen Scientists review specimens during a Marine RAP in Madagascar.  © CI, Timothy B. Werner Red fire fish (Pterois volitans) in Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea
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