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Top ten things you can do to Defend Our Oceans
- Become an Ocean Defender! Sign up and start taking action today. Get your friends to sign up too!
- Urge politicians to support the creation of “no-take” marine reserves to protect marine ecosystems and restore fisheries.
- Eat less fish, and ask questions about where the seafood comes from. What kind of fish is it? Where's it from, and how was it caught? Avoid fish that come from a depleted stock, were caught illegally, were caught with bottom trawling or were caught in a process that results in a lot of by-catch. Avoid farmed products such as prawns and salmon.
- Help fight global warming, which is causing havoc to marine ecosystems from tropics to the Polar Regions. Reduce the use of private cars and use public transport (or bicycles) instead, switch to renewable energy sources, buy locally grown and produced food and goods, and avoid flying when possible. See our "12 steps" page for more tips on painless ways to save energy.
- Reduce the amount of nutrients that flow into the ocean , causing algal blooms and dead zones in the seabed, by avoiding the excess use of fertilizers and by buying organically grown products.
- Keep the oceans free of rubbish. Minimize your use of plastic – don’t use plastic bags, for example, and recycle as much as you can.
- Reduce the poisons flowing into the ocean. Don’t use pesticides, and urge manufacturers and policy makers to phase out persistent pollutants like PCBs and chlorine.
- If you buy tropical fish, make sure they were bred in captivity and not stripped from reefs. Tropical fish are often caught using cyanide or other destructive methods, and a huge proportion die before reaching the market. Ask at the pet shop.
- Help save the whales! If you are from, or regularly visit, a pro-whaling country please let the government know that you are opposed to whaling and believe their position to be objectionable. If you are from, or regularly visit, an anti-whaling nation congratulate the government and also ask that they increase pressure to stop all whaling given the imminent possibility of a take-over of the International Whaling Commission by the pro-whaling lobby.
- And last but not least - spread the word! Talk to friends and family about the problems - and the solutions – that impact our oceans. Write letters to the editors of your local newspapers calling attention to marine issues.
Bonus: Help make this page better. Suggest your own tips in the discussion forum.