Dear readers,

The seas, the Arabian and the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean, hold untold wealth. It is time we treated our waters with respect and elevated their position from mere all purpose dumping stations. Beginning with overfishing and invasive species to the elimination of nurseries, the living resources of our waters are under jeopardy. When top of the chain predators are killed, the food chain turns unstable – a fall out that could ruin the biodiversity of the oceans. The oceans as we know, serve as a carbon sink – but with increased carbon in the atmosphere the ocean’s pH balance seems to be dropping, resulting in acidification, which is bound to affect a species shift. Then there is the issue of mining under the sea, with countries pitting against each other to gain mining rights. The overall scenario is somber, corals dying, dead oceanic patches with increased eutrophication and coastal hypoxia, floating dumps and more. Scientists have come up with unique climate change mitigative solutions, termed as geoengineering, but the counter effects of these ‘great’ plans are still to be ascertained. I, however, belong to the old school and believe that conservation is the key. Beginning with awareness, we need to fix the big picture, piece by piece.