Very little ocean still classed ‘wilderness’

JUST 13 per cent of the world’s seas remain officially “the wilderness” because of pollution and human activity.

Experts say there is now almost no marine wilderness in the northern hemisphere and that the growing tide of plastic waste is making things worse.

International researchers created a map of ocean wildernesses, which they defined as the areas least hit by 19 problems caused by mankind.

These include fishing, which creates huge amounts of plastic waste, commercial shipping, and fertiliser run-off from the land.

The results show what little wilderness remains is mostly in the Arctic, Antarctic and around some of the Pacific island nations.

Lead author Kendall Jones, of the University of Queensland, said: “We were astonished by just how little marine wilderness remains.

“The ocean is immense, covering over 70 per cent of our planet, but we’ve managed to significantly impact almost all of this vast ecosystem.”

The study follows research showing that more than five trillion plastic pieces weighing more than 250,000 tons are afloat in the world’s seas.

Professor Benjamin Halpern, of Imperial College London and the University of California, said the study did not look specifically at plastic, but more evidence is emerging of its threat to wilderness areas.

“To understand where it remains we looked at fishing, shipping, pollution and climate change.”