There is a way of seeing the ocean as the vast blue — the water, the waves and the distance. The seeing is common, and it is the surface.
Beneath the surface is the food web — the plankton, the fish and the chains that connect them. The web is the sea’s economy, and the economy feeds the world. The food web is the ocean’s deepest structure, and it is under pressure from the warming and the taking.
The base of the web
The web begins with the plankton, and the plankton is the base.
The phytoplankton that turns the sunlight into the life, the zooplankton that feeds on the phytoplankton and the tiny that supports the large — the plankton is the base of the ocean’s food web, and the base is the foundation. The base is the food of the food — the chain that begins with the microscopic and reaches the whale. The plankton is the ocean’s first economy.
This is why the base matters: it is the foundation, and the foundation is the web.
The chains of the sea
The chains connect the base to the top, and the connecting is the web.
The fish that feeds on the plankton, the predator that feeds on the fish and the apex that feeds on the predator — the chains are the web’s connections, and the connections are the transfer. The energy moves up the chain, and the movement is the ocean’s economy. The chains are the web’s structure, and the structure is the transfer.
This is why the chains matter: they are the connections, and the connections are the transfer.
The catch that feeds
The web feeds the world through the catch, and the catch is the taking.
The fish that the world eats comes from the web — the catch that is taken from the chains, the harvest that feeds the billions. The catch is the taking, and the taking is the world’s food. The web is the source, and the source is the supply. The ocean’s food web is the world’s protein, and the protein is the lives it feeds.
This is why the catch matters: it is the supply, and the supply is the feeding.
The pressure of the warming
The warming is pressuring the web, and the pressure is the shifting.
The warming changes the ocean — the temperature that shifts the species, the acid that weakens the shells and the current that moves the plankton. The warming is pressuring the web, and the pressure is the shifting: the plankton that moves, the fish that follow and the chains that rearrange. The shifting is the web’s disruption, and the disruption is the pressure.
This is why the warming matters: it is the shifting, and the shifting is the disruption.
The pressure of the taking
The taking is pressuring the web, and the pressure is the depletion.
The catch that exceeds the replenishment, the fishing that takes the top and the bycatch that takes the side — the taking is pressuring the web, and the pressure is the depletion. The web that is over-taken is the web that is thinned, and the thinned is the weakened. The taking is the web’s pressure, and the pressure is the management’s challenge.
This is why the taking matters: it is the depletion, and the depletion is the challenge.
The management of the web
The web must be managed, and the management is the balance.
The catch that is limited, the area that is protected and the chain that is restored — the management of the web is the balance, and the balance is the sustainability. The web that is managed is the web that can feed; the web that is over-taken is the web that will fail. The management is the web’s protection, and the protection is the future’s food.
This is why the management matters: it is the balance, and the balance is the future.
The honest conclusion
The food web that feeds the world from the sea is the ocean’s economy, and the economy is the foundation.
The base of the web, the chains, the catch, the pressure of the warming, the pressure of the taking and the management — the ocean’s food web is the world’s food, and the food is the web’s service.
The plankton is the base, the chains are the connections and the catch is the supply. The warming and the taking are the pressures, and the management is the balance. The web that feeds the world is the web that must be kept — the base protected, the chains preserved and the catch managed. The ocean’s food web is the world’s deepest larder, and the keeping of it is the future’s feeding. The web is under pressure, and the management is the answer — the balance that lets the sea keep feeding the world.