Whale Populations Recovering From Overfishing

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The biggest threat now is not that we spear them or harpoon them, but rather that we are taking their food. And there're some skinny whales out there because we are competing with them for food and also because they get tangled in the junk that we throw inder the ocean too. So it's not as the ocean is not as safe for them, or for other marine life to day as it has been in times past. But i think the good news is we can see the cause and effect. We can see that there're fewer sharks in the ocean now by a lot from the time when I was a child. It rarely doesa shark actually consume a human. A few people

It’s a well-worn cliché that oceans cover seventy percent of the surface of Earth, but we tend to give them secondary consideration when thinking about the environment. But climate change is wreaking havoc on the oceans, not to mention pollution and overfishing — 90% of the world’s marine fish stocks are fully exploited or depleted. Today’s guest, Sylvia Earle, is a well-known ocean scientist, a celebrated underwater explorer, and a tireless advocate for the world’s oceans. We talk about the current state of our oceans, what we know and have yet to learn about them, and what we can do individually and collectively to make things better.

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Sylvia Earle received her Ph.D. in phycology from Duke University. She is currently National Geographic’s Rosemary and Roger Enrico Chair for Ocean Exploration, as well as founder of Mission Blue, SEAlliance and Deep Ocean Exploration and Research. She formerly served as Chief Scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Among her awards are the TED Prize, the National Women’s Hall of Fame, and the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award from the Seattle Aquarium. She is the author of several books, the most recent of which is National Geographic Ocean: A Global Odyssey.