What is so scary about the ocean?

Question

people find the ocean scary. Why is that?

Answer 1

Sharks.

Answer 2

I've crossed the oceans a few times while I was in the Navy. The only time I can ever remember being scared was one night when I was on the deck of my ship very late at night looking over the railing. It was a new moon, the sky was cloudy and all the lights were out on the ship and all I could see was the darkness. I thought to myself, if I were to fall overboard right now, nobody would find me and I would be lost forever.

Answer 3

Fishing, fertilizer runoff, pollution, shipping, climate change—these are just a few of the ways that human activities influence the oceans that cover 70 percent of Earth's surface. And in all that vastness—139 million square miles (360 million square kilometers)—less than 4 percent remains unaffected, and more than a third has suffered serious human impacts, according to a new map published in Science.

Marine ecologist Ben Halpern of the University of California, Santa Barbara's National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis and an international team of colleagues first listed 17 ways humans affect the oceans and then mapped each of them. By overlaying each impact on top of one another, the ecologists created a "current state of affairs for the oceans," Halpern says. "I was really surprised that there is no single spot on the planet that isn't being affected by at least one of these factors."

The map offers a guide to the most impacted areas, not surprisingly located where the most human activities occur, such as in waters adjacent to cities on the coasts of the North Sea, Mediterranean, Persian Gulf and South China Sea as well as off North America's eastern seaboard, among others. Yet, the map is crude, Halpern says. "Aquaculture, recreational fishing, sediment input from rivers that are being blocked by dams, atmospheric pollution—we know these are problems or potential problems and we wanted to include them but we just couldn't find the data," he notes. "Our results are almost certainly conservative."

Coral reefs, among other ecosystems, are suffering mightily at the hands of humans. It remains unclear, though, whether the host of impacts they face will compound themselves or cancel each other out, says marine ecologist John Bruno of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who also contributed to the map.

Shallow seas with muck at the bottom and the deepest parts of the ocean proved the least affected so far, due to the resilience of those ecosystems or a lack of good knowledge. "The deep water is such a vast, relatively unexplored area, we just don't know what kinds of impacts we're having on those ecosystems," Halpern says. "We spend trillions of dollars going to the moon and we don't really know what's going on in our own oceans yet."

Although the Bering Sea is an area of strong human influence, the polar seas are among the few watery stretches that show little sign of humanity's impact—yet. As these areas continue to warm under climate change, however, dwindling sea ice may open up new areas to fishing and other forms of human activity, the researchers warn.

But there are reasons for hope. The Marine Conservation Alliance (MCA)—a fishing industry group based in Juneau, Alaska—has called for a ban on fishing north of the Bering Strait, according to MCA executive director David Benton. "Let's shut this puppy down until we understand the effects," he says. "We don't want to be part of the problem for polar bears" and other Arctic animals.

And the tiny Pacific nation of Kiribati—just 313 square miles (810 square kilometers) of atolls—has decided to protect more than 10 percent of its territorial waters—158,000 square miles (410,500 square kilometers), an area roughly the size of California—as the largest marine reserve in the world.

These kinds of efforts are exactly what the mapmakers hope to inspire. By revealing areas where mankind does its worst, the map also divulges where mankind can do best in limiting its impact. "It's definitely serving as a wake-up call to really start paying more attention to what we're doing to the oceans," Halpern says. "I hope people step up to the plate, knowing they have the opportunity to make a difference."

Answer 4

probably because they can't tell what's deep down-once i was swimming in the mediterranean and i saw a shark!! it was a small one though, but I LOVE THE OCEAN!!! x*x

Answer 5

It's what you can't see that may be lurking underneath in the depths that makes me shudder!lol  Also the possibility of drowning if it's too deep...but if other people are swimming, then I know it's safe=]

x

Answer 6

yea..i find it very scary as well..coz its like so calm but its like an angry monster from the inside..have you ever seen it at night? its so dark, and sacrryyy!!..the ocean is soo big and huge with all these different sea creatures and so-called dark monsters living in it..

Answer 7

the wild and tame, unknown...... its power and strength, and depth, darkness and peace....

the pollution we have put in it!!

Answer 8

the english sea is horrble n dirty.... but abroad its lush just thinking about the boxed jelly fish n sharks scare me .....

i watch the discovery channel to much.lol

Answer 9

The ocean is full of creatures that regard us as dinner.

Answer 10

Ocean?? deep, dark and wide...you do not know what is underneath in the deep ocean.. too many undiscover creatures..unknown of this size and appearance.. too wide and you can't swim back to the shore

Answer 11

the fact that its vast and unpredictable because you never know whats out there.

Answer 12

I can swim but if its very deep there is a possibility that sharks could eat you and that if you cant swim you might drown and die!

Answer 13

#!: very loud!

#2:fast rush

#3:u can drown and die. :(

im not afraid of it....but sum ppl r!

Answer 14

i amreally really scared of the ocean,and the seaside,its,to me,a fear of the unknown?you go into the the sea,god knows whats down there!Its too dark,and ominous,and my belief is water does more damage than any other element!

Answer 15

Many, many people have died in the ocean.  We drown in it.

Answer 16

I love all the things that live in the oceans, especially seals.  However there is a scary thing in the ocean.  Methane hydrate ice that melts at minus 180oC.  It needs to stay that cold and global warming makes it melting inevitable.  It is deposited all around the world in pockets not that far down and when it does melt water surface tension goes.

Nothing can float when this happens.  Ships will sink.

The gas from this is a greenhouse gas and so on and so forth.

Happy, happy, joy, joy!

Answer 17

there are things in the ocean that dont like us humans lol things that sting, bite and generally hurt us, i prefer to just be at the edge of it

Answer 18

All of the above.

Also because it is chaos.  It's where life began, as far as we know, but it's chaos.  Which adds to the feeling of it being the unknown.

Answer 19

I guess its the unknown..and its size. I wouldn't like to swim out in the ocean...just thinking about everything underneath me freaks me out!

Answer 20

Big, man-eating aquatic life. Consider the giant squid and recent evidence that points to megalodon, or however you spell it.

Answer 21

Most likely because we know more about the BACK side of the moon than we do about the oceans that cover about 70% of this planet!!

Answer 22

Huge waves out of nowhere,hurricane force winds that are never mentioned to people on land, being at the mercy of the elements if something goes wrong with your vessel, lots of nothing.

Answer 23

I can't swim.

Answer 24

How deep it is

How it's misty and you can't see the creatures below!

How big it is

How it is eroding the landscape

How it occupies 2/3 of the world

These are just a couple of things off the top of my head, I don't really have a problem with the sea, I think it' great most of the time.........

Answer 25

cos its dark and scary and you dunno whats swimming near you..

Answer 26

Sharks, jellyfish, undertow, all that stuff. But primarily, nature's power. The ocean during a hurricane is a devastating force.

Answer 27

basically the fact that ur feet not touching the ground, u having no where to hold on to and that ur at the mercy of the waves in a deep vast ocean, not to mention that u cant see anything if ur deep under makes u pretty vulnerable (prey)...because u have no control over anything, no hope...but then again thats just me..

Answer 28

the fact that its made entirely of jam.