“Endangered species are our friends.” -Yao ming

Dear Next President:

I am very concerned about marine life in the world. Many, many endangered species have become extinct from fisherman just trying to make a quick dollar. This is a little list of species of marine life who have gone extinct or endangered because of fisherman:

Marine Turtles- endangered

Young fish-endangered

Seabirds-endangered

Sharks - endangered (shark fin soup)

Cetaceans-endangered

More than 70 percent of marine species have gone endangered from fisherman hooks and nets.

Resource:http://marinesciencetoday.com/2014/04/09/impact-of-overfishing-on-human-lives/

Think of it, if you just let this endangerment of marine life slide on past, there could be very less species of fish and other marine life at Seaworld and children could not see the joy of undersea life at seaworld like they would in the present. Also some of the undersea life can help with studies on cure researches for diseases and bone development. For example, oily fish produce fish oil which helps humans gain omega 3’s for their everyday jobs. Oily fish are threatened but close to endangerment. If oily fish become extinct, it’s possible there could be fatalities to humans, not just oily fish.

Extinction of sea life can critically damage the food chain,circle of life and human attractions like whale watching, deep sea diving, scuba diving, The great barrier reef, beaches, cruises and many, many more!

No water, No life. No blue, No green.

-Sylvia Earle

According to www.seashepherd.org, the ocean provides oxygen for humans to breath also working along trees they produce oxygen. That way the 50% of oxygen produced by the ocean will disappear, thus taking away oxygen and killing humans and animals too. So, if the oceans dies the human race can become extinct also.

Why I would include rare species is because, they are rare for a reason. Those kinds of species hide from humans because they think we would kill or capture them. Or those species are critically endangered and extremely hard to find. Like finding a needle in a haystack as big as an elementary school.

Endangerment of species isn´t just because of fisherman, but careless people who litter everywhere they go. There have been many problems of littering in the environment. Sea turtles have swallowed plastic bags and it has caused digestive backup and eventual death. Along with hooks being left in the water by careless fisherman, hooks are being swallowed by many sea animals and caused harm and the turtle and hook will eventually pass. Pollution of water is a very big problem.

The trash will decompose at some point in a VERY LONG TIME, the longest decomposing object is a glass bottle. A glass bottle takes 1 million years to decompose. Here is a short list of the time certain objects take to decompose:

Glass bottle 1 million years

Monofilament fishing line: 600 years

Plastic beverage bottles: 450 years

Disposable diapers: 450 years

Aluminum can: 80-200 years

Boot sole: 50-80 years

Styrofoam cup: 50 years

Tin can: 50 years

Leather: 50 years

Nylon fabric: 30-40 years

Plastic film canister: 20-30 years

Plastic bag: 10-20 years (???)

Cigarette filter: 1-5 years

Wool sock: 1-5 years

Plywood: 1-3 years

Waxed milk carton: 3 months

Apple core: 2 months

Newspaper: 6 weeks

Orange or banana peel : 2-5 weeks

Paper towel: 2-4 weeks

Resource:

https://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/waste-decomposition-rates.html

See how none of the items decompose in seconds, hours, minutes, days??? They take a very long time to decompose and during that time the item is vulnerable to being eaten by a innocent sea creature the we treat like garbage! (Excuse my pun) There should be new laws about not littering anywhere near water where living creatures are living and struggling to live. There should be the same law for land animals also. They should be treated as equally as humans are, they should not live in a house and should live like a human, but be treated as equally as a human!

If we kept being careless on whether we litter or not, the ocean can die in the blink of an eye.

Another common thing that pulls fish into endangerment is captivity. Some people who care enough for the ocean like me, actually take hurt sea animals and regular animals in so they could care for them until they are healed and are ready to go back into the wild. Places like Red Lobster and Seafood restaurants will take fish into captivity and never let them go until they pass. Some have gone extinct from captivity, because they are used being out in the wild with their families and species.

In conclusion, the human race has to at least show some respect and care for the ocean, use safer hooks, and not target after endangered, threatened or rare species of sea life, If that happens more of the rare species could repopulate their species, create new beautiful ocean habitats and more coral reefs! If people show respect and care for the ocean, new species could be born or discovered!

Thank you Future president for you cooperation and reading this letter.

A proud American kid,

Noah P 6th grader