November 6, 1998

To Save the Earth, Scientists Should Join Policy Debates

By CARL SAFINA

Until a few years ago, most people considered the oceans inexhaustible -- a limitless supply of food, relatively untouched by human activities. Now scientists know that pollution and overfishing have seriously depleted the oceans' resources, including many of the fish that humans prefer to eat. To try to increase public awareness of the problem, the United Nations designated 1998 the International Year of the Ocean.