Module 3 • Ecology: Blue Planet
Teacher Notes 3-3a
Figure 3. Human Impacts on the Ocean
No area of the oceans remains unaffected by human activities. This map illustrates the cumulative
impact of human activities across the oceans. The main impacts come from commercial fishing,
pollution and global climate change. Highly impacted regions are illustrated in red and orange,
covering more than 40 percent of the ocean surface; the least- impacted regions are in blue and
green (Halpern et al., 2008).
Figure 4. Primary Threats to Marine Environments
