Kerry calls for ocean protection

Secretary of State John Kerry said the world’s oceans are at great risk of harm from fishing, garbage and carbon dioxide, and asked for individual actions to protect the waters.

“Harmful fishing practices, even illegal fishing, giant garbage patches, hundreds of deadzones and rising carbon dioxide levels, all of it threatens life under the sea,” Kerry said in a Monday video.

{mosads}“Governments, communities and individuals can act now to reverse these trends,” he said. “We can protect the ocean if we all start treating it like our ocean.”

He urged individuals to stop throwing trash into waterways, eat sustainable seafood and volunteer to clean waterways and beaches.

The video served as a preview of Our Ocean, a State Department conference scheduled for later this month. Kerry will speak at that event, in addition to scholars, advocates and other experts on environmental issues with oceans.

“The conference will propose concrete actions that can be taken at all levels by the international community — governments, communities, organizations, and individuals — to help protect ocean ecosystems,” State spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters Monday.