The Impacts of Industrialization on Sea Otters

Industrialization has had and still has negative impacts on the Sea Otter population. It fell from 300,000 members to an estimation of 2,000 members in the 1740s. It was caused by hunting for their fur which was extremely popular. Even if hunting sea otters is now banned in a lot of coastal countries, the population recovery is difficult. Human activity affects those marine mammals in different ways: poaching, oil spills, habitat destruction, food limitation... Industrialization has lead to that. It has made everybody dependent on the economy. As a result, it has produced pollution and has changed the way humans consider the environment. However, sea otters are protected by many laws of coastline countries, reintroduction programs and established reserves to protect this species from extinction. Like every species, sea otters are essential to the balance of the ecosystem. They control the number of sea urchins in the ocean, which contributes to preserving kelp forests. Kelp forests provide nutriments to the marine ecosystem and are eaten by sea urchins. Every living being is essential to the balance of the ecosystem.

Marine Mammal Center

In Sausalito, California, there is a hospital called the Marine Mammal Center. There are vets and volunteers who try as much as possible to save marine mammals that are mostly elephant seals, sea lions and harbor seals. Every year, there are a lot of ocean animals in danger. The major causes are malnutrition, injuries and domoic acid. Domoic acid is a poison released due to human actions. The vets take care of these animals and, when the animals are healthy, they release them back into the ocean as soon as possible to prevent these animals from getting too used to humans. Sometimes, some animals are not able to return and survive on their own in the ocean; therefore the human thing to do is euthanize them. Some experts try to figure out how these mammals normally behave and what has brought them to the center to prevent them from dying in nature and to know how the ecosystem has changed. By putting satellite tags on released marine mammals, they have found a lot of things like the fact that every year these animals migrate a great distance away, which represents twice the size of the United States. It is very important to learn about them because whatever has an impact on them can also affect us.

Suzuki Speaks

The environment is important because it is an integral part of us; just as we are an integral part of it. That is why we have a responsibility toward nature. Everything on the Earth is connected. This fact explains why the generations before us were more attentive to the things around them. The environment is us and we are the environment, so we influence it and that has an impact on us in the end. We are made of four sacred elements from the environment which are earth, air, fire and water. Air is the main connector of life in general; it connects every living being together even though there is no contact between these elements. We need the oxygen that comes from trees and trees need the argon that comes from our breath. Water is a big part of the human body, so what we do to water, we do to ourselves at the same time, because we will drink this water one day. Water goes into the earth and contributes to fertilizing the soil. This same soil reacts to the energy from the fire of the sun. Because of this energy, some vegetables grow and contribute to our nutrition. The cycle always renews itself over and over. However, the cycle has been broken because we have separated ourselves from the rest of the elements. We do not interact directly with the environment anymore. One of the main causes is the media. The media act like a third party that interferes between us and the environment. The media does that we don’t feel to be the environment by giving information without any explanations. That is another big victory for the media against us.