G4

Life Below Water

Ocean Conservation

Our Goals: https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal14

Navigate through different visualizations of marine life and ocean conservation

Visualizations

Visualization 1

Time Series of Global SST with Uncertainty

This time series graph shows how ocean temperatures have changed from 1850 to today. Sea surface temperature (SST) is the top few meters of the sea’s temperature that changes based on various climate factors such as wind and currents. On the graph, the blue line shows the average ocean temperatures, and the light blue shading behind it shows the data’s uncertainty where the measurements vary. The temperatures were more consistent from 1850 to 1900, then after 1900 they started to increase. The uncertainty in the data comes from how ocean temperatures were measured over time, first with buckets, then ship engine rooms, and now buoys. Tracking ocean temperature changes overtime helps us understand climate change and its impact on oceans, which is important for protecting ocean life and understanding weather patterns and trends.

Visualization 2

Plastic Pollution and Beach Clean-Ups

This graph illustrates a downward trend in the percentage of mismanaged waste over the years, indicating the positive impact of increased efforts to clean beaches and improve waste management practices. By reducing the amount of plastic waste left un-managed, these initiatives have likely contributed to a significant decrease in the plastics littered in oceans, reflecting the importance of continued cleanup and prevention efforts. One of our goals was to reduce all kinds of pollution by 2025 and the trend continues to move towards less and less waste by our oceans.

Visualization 3

Global Fish Production

SDG target 14.4 is designed to help regulate fishing activities and eliminate overfishing as well as illegal, unreported, unregulated, and destructive fishing. Overfishing occurs when too many when too many fish are caught too quickly without there being enough time for the population to recover. Our graph looks at the global fish production of both capture production and aquaculture production. Capture production are fish caught openly in the ocean or inland waters, while aquaculture production consists of farmed fish. From our graph we see that global fish production for both capture production and aquaculture production has a significant rise as time has gone on. We also see that Aquaculture production has caught up with capture production by the late 2010s. Capture production is increasing pressure on wild fish stocks globally while aquaculture production contributes to this pressure due to farmed fish being fed with captured fish.

Visualization 4

Reduce Ocean Acidification

This graph shows the average marine acidity (pH) measured at the Aloha sampling station in Hawaii. Since the 1990s, the pH level of the ocean is slowly but consistently decreasing. Acidic substances have a pH value under 7 while basic substances are over 7. As carbon dioxide in the air increases, the ocean becomes more acidic. These changes not only impact the acceleration of global warming it also endangers corals. It is a global goal to minimize ocean acidification.

Visualization 5

Fishing Levels and Sustainability

Fish stocks are a limited resource that we have and over the years, unsustainable fishing habits have been leading use to over fishing. Over fishing can lead to food production declines, dysfunctional ecosystem, and a decrease in biodiversity. Although over fished is not desirable it is still sustainable with strict management. Fully fished stock on the other hand is extremely difficult to repair. As seen in this graph, the percentage of under fished fish stocks has severely decreased while fully fished stocks remain increasing. Actions should be taken such as stronger regulations and further education on protecting our ecosystem.