A university don, Professor Babajide Alo, of the University of Lagos, has warned that if the seas and oceans were not preserved and protected, there will be more litters than fishes by the year 2030.
Speaking at the this year’s celebration of the African Day of the Sea in Lagos, Alo said that marine biodiversity is important for human well-being as it underpins a wide range of ecosystem service on which life depends adding that the production of unnecessary waste and pollution should be considered immoral.
He also said that management of marine biodiversity should be made a priority because of the goods and services it provides to humanity adding that it also plays a major role in the global ecosystems.
According to Alo, biodiversity do not only contribute to economic growth, it also contribute to science as marine living resources are used for pharmaceutical products and chemical application through the provision of raw materials for various drugs and pharmaceuticals.
Alo whose paper was titled ‘‘Maximising Nigeria’s maritime economic growth through marine biodiversity management, exploration and conservation’’, said that with the rich and often underexplored marine biological diversity, many coastal developing countries like Nigeria have the potential to enter into discovery and development of marine genetic resources.
He said: “Marine biodiversity has both direct and indirect economic importance to mankind, it is important in many ways to the economy and human living.
“Due to the economic and social importance of the marine biodiversity, it is important to conserve them.
“The aim of nature conservation is to protect species from extinction through protecting their natural ecosystem. Conservation will promote sustainable and minimise unsustainable, use of resources.
“Prudent management will minimise pollution and habitat and communities. Pollution control measures must be applied in all marine areas with a view to conserving biodiversity”.
He opined that it was not possible to directly protect and conserve biodiversity, especially in the sea, by managing it directly.
“In the marine environment, its management requires direct actions, such as regulation, fishery control, marine areas where certain activities are restricted and pollution reduction”, he concluded.
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