Touching the sea

 
Whether you are herding cattle on a ranch in northern Alberta, navigating traffic on a Toronto freeway, or planting seedlings with the kids in an Eastern Townships back yard, the ocean is closer than you may think.
Forty percent – almost half – of Canada is ocean. Our boundaries extend well into the Pacific, Arctic, and Atlantic. We have the longest coastline of any country in the world. The sea has shaped our history and our national identity: ad mare usque ad mare. The sea surrounds us and wherever we are, it touches us daily in countless ways.
Here are just a few oceany things you might touch today:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VCflzToAbc[/youtube]

Life: Almost three quarters of our Earth is ocean. Life began in the sea, and scientists estimate that today about 80 per cent of life on Earth is in the sea.
Air: We often think of forests as the lungs of our planet. In fact, half of the oxygen we breathe comes from marine plants and algae.
Water: The seas hold 97 percent of the water on the planet. The rain you are waiting for – or that you wish would go away – comes from the sea.
Food: Three billon people around the world rely on seafood as a source of protein. Across the globe, more than 200 million people fish for a living.
Jobs: Canadian seafood businesses contribute about $4 billion a year to our economy. About 315,000 Canadians work in ocean industries. Each year, about $100 billion in Canadian trade relies on shipping.
Life, air, water, food, prosperity…these shape our lives every day. And that’s not all, as you can see here:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXzzvgJ8iDM[/youtube]
Our privilege, our responsibility
The sea touches us each day, and we touch it back – for better or for worse.
In Canada we are blessed to have such an abundance of ocean resources. With this privilege comes a responsibility to care for the sea. So far, our record is mixed.
The footprint of human activity extends to the furthest reaches of the ocean. Fishing, shipping, energy development, tourism, recreation… together their impacts can add up to cause serious problems for ocean ecosystems and species.
Our carbon footprint shows up in the sea too. Global warming is shifting ocean currents and reorganizing ecosystems. The ocean absorbs carbon from the atmosphere, making sea water more acidic – a change that threatens the very foundations of ocean life.
The good news is that we can reverse this trend. WWF is working with governments, businesses, scientists, and organizations to build Canada’s network of marine protected areas, to improve industry practices, and to develop smart management plans to support healthy oceans.
Wherever you are today, your choices can help protect our oceans’ health. Whether it’s putting sustainably-sourced seafood on the shopping list, or signing the family up for the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup – our small actions can add up to make a big difference.
Please join WWF in celebrating this Oceans Day. Because Canada’s oceans are not just within our reach: they are in our hands.
Want to know more about why oceans matter? Watch this video.