Protecting the oceans

The Census of Marine Life isn't only about the science of gathering and naming species and tracking them through space and time, it also has a vital part to play in helping to protect the oceans.

We caught up with maritime lawyer Kristina Gjerde, a conservation advisor for the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) about how we can best make use of all the data collected by the Census.

Find out more:

Global Ocean Biodiversity Initiative

Transcript:

Kristina - Bringing the high seas, the oceans, into the living room of the public will help to stir some concern about what is the state of the oceans these days. And if that concern can be translated to the policy makers, that's in the capitals, in our home towns, then we'd start to see some action.

We need more protected areas, we need tighter restrictions on fishing, we need new levels of accountability, responsibility. We have more power to go out and do new things in the marine environment, we also need an accompanying parental restraint so we don't do everything we can but, as they were saying, we need the car with the seat belts before we go out to sea.