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The global fish catch was highest in the late 1990’s and reached 95 million tons – it has varied slightly since then.
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Death and disease caused by polluted coastal waters costs the global economy US$12.8 billion ($12800 million - $12,800,000,000!) a year. |
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Plastic waste kills up to 1 million sea birds, 100,000 sea mammals and countless fish each year. Plastic remains in our ecosystem for years harming thousands of sea creatures everyday. |
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Over the past decade, an average of 600,000 barrels of oil a year has been accidentally spilled from ships, the equivalent of 12 disasters the size of the sinking of the oil tanker Prestige in 2002. |
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The High Seas -- areas of the ocean which do not belong to any one nation -- cover almost 50 per cent of the Earth's surface. They are the least protected part of the world. |
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As many as 100 million sharks are killed each year for their meat and fins, which are used for shark fin soup. Hunters typically catch the sharks, de-fin them while alive and throw them back into the ocean where they either drown or bleed to death. |
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Global by-catch -- unintended destruction caused by the use of non-selective fishing gear, such as trawl nets, longlines and gillnets -- amounts to 20 million tons a year. |
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The annual global by-catch mortality of small whales, dolphins and porpoises alone is estimated to be more than 300,000 individuals. |
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In the Mediterranean Sea alone, there are almost 600 species of alien (non-native) marine organisms recorded to date, the majority of which are crustaceans |