Scientist Sylvia Earle (TED Talk: My wish: Protect our oceans) has spent the past five decades exploring the seas. During that time, she’s witnessed a steep decline in ocean wildlife numbers — and a sharp incline in the number of ocean deadzones and oil drilling sites. An original documentary about Earle’s life and work premieres today on Netflix. Watch it here.
Below, four ocean infographic gifs from the film.
What happened to the coral reefs?
Between 1950 and 2014, half of the coral reefs across the oceans died.
What happened to tuna, sharks, and cod?
Between 1950 and 2014, Pacific Bluefin Tuna, sharks, and North Atlantic Cod were all almost fished to extinction. Between 5% and 10% remain.
The number of ocean deadzones then and now:
Ocean deadzones are spots in the sea where life no longer exists. They occur when massive fertilizer runoff (or other ocean crises) set in motion an oxygen-depriving chain of events leading to the death in one spot of fish, crabs and other sea creatures. In 1975, there was one documented deadzone. In 2014, there were 500+.
The number of oil drilling sites then and now:
Oil drilling in the Gulf Coast didn’t start and stop with the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. But the practice is younger than you might think. In 1947, there was just one oil drilling site. In 2014, there were more than 30,000.
