The ocean is extremely powerful. It’s so powerful and has such incredible potential for food sustainability and yet it’s talked about so little in global discourse unless when brought into the conversation related to climate change (rightfully so). Yet, there are ways in which we can work to advocate for the ocean and this can be done more specifically at the policy level (Oceana is headquartered in Washington D.C. for a reason).

I think during times when we must fight for our rights on a deeply existential level, it almost goes without saying that working to protect nature, and with nature, the ocean, is fundamentally important in ensuring that we are able to live the most sustainable future possible.

Our oceans face major problems today and there is no one entity that truly oversees the mitigation of the harm that’s being done to it. The most important step in working towards ensuring there are policies made in favor of the longevity of the ocean’s health is education about the ocean and the problems it’s facing. These problems include pollution, offshore drilling, ocean acidification, and over fishing. While some of these issues have points of no return in the outcomes that are caused by these issues, there are opportunities for policies to be created to ensure that further erosion of the ocean’s health does not happen at the bare minimum.

In theory, if the ocean is restored, it could feed up to 1 billion people a healthy seafood meal per day. That does a lot for sustainability in the food supply chain to say the least. Working towards food sustainability may start with our oceans. That’s just one of the many, many reasons that we need to continue to fight for our oceans. We have been taking its health for granted and that’s not acceptable anymore. Our oceans deserve to be treated better and we will certainly see more detrimental consequences if we don’t act quickly.