The
Census of Marine Life
An
Unprecedented Exploration of the World's Oceans
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A new species
of scorpionfish, Scorpaenopsis Vittapinna, found in the
Indo-Pacific area, one of a rapidly growing list of more
than 15,300 marine fish species now logged in the Census
of Marine Life database.
Photo by Bill Eschmeyer and
John E. Randall |
An
estimated 5,000 previously unknown ocean fish species and hundreds
of thousands of other marine life forms are yet to be discovered,
according to scientists engaged in a massive global scientific
collaboration to identify and catalog life in the oceans.
The new marine fish species, being identified at
an average rate of 160 per year (roughly three new species per week
since year 2000), are being catalogued and mapped by the Census
of Marine Life (CoML), an unprecedented cooperative initiative
involving leading marine scientists from every world region.
The Census
issued its first report after three years of work on October 23,
2003 at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. More than 300
scientists from 53 countries are at work on the Census, designed
to assess the diversity, distribution and abundance of ocean life
and explain how it changes overtime. The scientists, their institutions
and government agencies are pooling their findings to create a comprehensive
and authoritative portrait of life in the oceans today, yesterday
and tomorrow.
Over 15,300
sizes of marine fish are now included in the Census database with
another 2,000 – 3,000 expected by the time of the final Census
report in 2010. CoML experts expect the final count of marine fish
species to total roughly 20,000. An average of 1,700 other animals
and numerous marine plants are also being catalogued each year.
CoML scientists
estimate that 210,000 marine life forms of all types are currently
known to science, but the final in existence could be up to 10 times
that number.
The first
Census report – The
Unknown Ocean: Baseline Report for the Census of Marine Life
– reviews the state of knowledge of ocean biodiversity and
how it has advanced during the first three years of the ambitious
10-year, $1 billion Census initiative.
Following the report’s launch, leading scientists
involved in the project will meet to map out research priorities
for the next seven years, one of the most important meetings of
ocean researchers ever conducted.
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| The
tube worm, Lamellibrachia luymesi , and its bacterial
symbionts live on sulfide produced by anaerobic oxidation
of oil and gas. This tube worm "bush" shows the red gill-plumes
of several worms.
Photo:
Ian MacDonald, Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi. |
On a practical level, the
Census identifies threatened species and important breeding areas,
helping fisheries authorities develop effective strategies for the
sustainable management of marine resources. New pharmaceuticals
and industrial compounds are among the potential bio-prospecting
spin-offs of the thousands of new species being found. Other benefits
include identification of "watering holes" or "oases"
and "nurseries" in the open and deep oceans that merit
protection.
As well, the Census is helping develop and test
new technologies that will permit exploration of areas unreachable
today, vastly improving human understanding of ocean life.
By cataloging and monitoring changes in size distribution
and composition of marine life, the Census will help predict ocean
life in the future. Scientists also believe that as they reveal
the secrets of Earth’s last largely unexplored frontier, they
will expand understanding of elemental processes such as climate,
evolution, extinction and migration.
“This is the start
of the first great voyage of discovery of the 21st Century,”
said J. Frederick Grassle of Rutgers University, Chair of the CoML
Scientific Committee.
“More importantly, it begins the first systematic
global effort to measure our oceans’ vital signs, and guide
what must be done to reverse their decline.”
Despite their importance for human well being, the
oceans are mostly unexplored and little is known about the life
they support, said Ronald O’Dor, chief scientist for the Census.
“The enormous diversity of marine life is not only a crucial
indicator of the condition of our oceans, it is key to sustaining
them in a healthy state,” he said.
“Increases in toxic
compounds and temperature in the sea are occurring globally with
consequences that are hard to predict,” said Dr. O’Dor.
“Accurate measures and predictions of
species distribution, abundance and natural variation through time
across a range of species are urgently needed to help policy-makers
respond appropriately to the consequences of changes in the ocean.”
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