Today is World Oceans Day. A day to celebrate the diversity, fragility, and beauty of the oceans. Horray for that.

So how about we make today the day we all do one thing for the oceans?

Here are my top suggestions:

Ask

If you eat fish, next time you’re at restaurant, supermarket or fish mongers, ask the person behind the counter or taking your order (drag out a manager or head chef if you need to) and ask them exactly where the fish you’re planning on buying was caught and using what fishing method.

Go armed with a pocket guide from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch project, or the Marine Conservation Society’s Good Fish Guide (write to them and they’ll send you one free), and do your best to avoid fish from overfished stocks and those caught with the most damaging fishing gear like bottom trawls.

As a consumer, it’s your right to ask, and the managers/chefs need to have an answer. If it’s obvious they have no idea where their fish came from, then let them know why you won’t be eating it – and perhaps why you won’t be coming back.

Porbeagle steaks on sale in Borough Market London. Photo by pfig

Don’t flush plastic

It would be nice to believe that all the waste we flush down the loo will be processed and cleaned up before the water reaches the ocean – not so. Q tips, dental floss, condoms… all sorts of things we think are okay to flush can end up in the oceans where they choke wildlife and leach gender-bending pollutants.

Sure, there are many other ways plastics reach the oceans, but don’t let your toilet be one of them.

Laysan albatross chick impacted by plastic debris. Claire Fackler, NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries/Marine Photobank.

Go for a walk/ride

The tragedy unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is a horrible but timely reminder that our reliance on oil is one of the biggest threats faced by the natural world, especially the oceans.

Plane releases dispersants over Deepwater Horizon oil spill. U.S. Coast Guard, Stephen Lehmann Marine Photobank

Not only can its extraction be devastating to ecology but of course the CO2 it releases when we pump it into our cars (and trucks, planes etc) causes climate change and with it the seas are getting warmer and more acidic, triggering all sorts of problems for wildlife.

We might all feel addicted to our automobiles but why not try and use your feet instead, at least for those short journeys. Pop to the shops on your bike or take a stroll into town. It’s pouring down here in Cambridge today, but I’ll get my umbrella out and remind myself of that lovely sound of rain over my head.

Get writing

The power of the pen (or keyboard) is greater than you might imagine. Take a few moments to write to your local politician, your local newspaper, or whoever you think might listen, and tell them your concerns for the ocean and ask them to help you do something about it.

Increasing the number and size of marine reserves is the simplest and most proven way of promoting healthy oceans. The more voices that call for more protection, the greater chance we have of making a difference.

And one last thing… how about we try making every day oceans day?

When it comes to measuring the benefits of marine reserves (or Marine Protected Areas aka MPAs, or marine parks, or no take zones, or whatever you want to call them) it’s usually fish populations or marine habitats that we focus on. Now it seems that protecting areas of the sea from fishing pressure can very quickly help ocean predators – including penguins.

African penguins. Photo by ClifB

A new study from South Africa reveals that when a 20km stretch of ocean – not a lot really – was declared off-limits to fishing fleets, a local colony of African penguins spent on average 30% less time out fishing for themselves. Within 3 months of the fishing ban, the penguins found more to eat inside the protected area now that the human hunters weren’t competing for fish.

Spending less time hunting for their dinner is good news for penguins because it cuts down their exposure to other ocean predators that are partial to a penguin-dinner including great white sharks, orcas and cape fur seals.

African penguins. Photo by Paul Mannix

At the same time, another penguin colony 50km away weren’t so lucky. With no protection of their local fish stocks, they had to spend longer in the sea finding enough food for themselves and their youngsters.

African penguins are considered to be vulnerable to extinction, so it’s certainly very encouraging that they can benefit so rapidly from the careful siting of relatively small marine reserves.

Hopefully more reserves like this will be created to help secure the penguins’ future.

In detail:

• African penguins, also known as the black-footed penguin live on the SW coast of Africa.
• They are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Redlist.
• Population declines are mainly blamed on overfishing of their target prey including sardines and anchovies by purse-seine fleets.
• In 2000, a catastrophic oil spill affected nearly half the entire population of African penguins and spawned the world’s largest sea bird rescue operation.
• The paper by Pichegru et al is published in the journal Biology Letters.

Did you know that the world’s largest coral atoll is British, and that it could become the world’s largest marine reserve?

View from Diego Garcia. Photo by sushicam

Those are two impressive facts and they apply to the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, some 300 miles south of the Maldives.

The coral reefs of the chagos are among the most untouched and healthy reefs left on the planet, mainly because they happen to be a long way from any major human settlements.

I’m writing this post partly just to tell you about the Chagos – if you haven’t already heard of them – and also to ask for your help.

We have until Feb 12th – this Friday – to show support for the protection of the Chagos Archipelago and all the thousands of marine species that live there. The UK government – in a rare demonstration of expansive environmental thinking – is considering plans for a marine reserve that could cover 500,000 square kms. That is truly huge and far, far bigger than any other marine reserve anywhere today.

Containing hundreds of coral species and thousands of fish species (including, it’s thought, important tuna breeding grounds), this area is of extraordinary biodiversity value. And yes, as I’ve mentioned a few times already, this is the International Year of Biodiversity, so what better time to make this monumental pledge to the natural world.

Specifically, there are three proposals under consideration:

• Strict protection for the entire archipelago i.e. no fishing at all, anywhere
• Moderate protection for the entire area, with some deep sea fishing allowed
• Protection of only the “most important” areas of reef

Conservationists are united in their support for option one. Over 10,000 members of the public have already showed their support, signing a petition urging the UK government to Protect Chagos.

The Chagos archipelago is part of the British Indian Ocean Territories and consists of 55 islands, including Diego Garcia, home to a joint UK/US military base since the early 1970s when the native Chagosians were relocated to Mauritius and the Seychelles. This, quite rightly, stirred up a huge human rights debate that continues to rage on today.

I don’t mean to brush the human issues aside, but I’m not going to talk more about it in this post. Only, I do want to point out that plans for a marine reserve should not go against plans to allow Chagosians to return. If or when that happens, there is flexibility in the marine reserve plans to make allowances for the native islanders to come back and make a sustainable living from the seas around the archipelago. So this isn’t a case of people versus wildlife – there should be room (to some extent) for both.

Please join over 10,000 other people in signing a petition calling for the highest level of protection in the proposed marine reserve: no fishing at all.

I’ve signed it. And I urge you, dear, thoughtful, planet-loving readers, to do the same.

And don’t just take my word for it. Here is veteran environmental campaigner Tony Juniper saying much the same things as me.