Did You Know?

Leading-edge anti-inflammatory drugs and potentially life-saving cancer treatments contain ingredients from fish and marine organisms.

There are 3 to 500 million species of organisms in the ocean, yet these vast resources are largely unexplored.

Aquarius, the world's only undersea laboratory, was reinstalled 63 feet deep in the ocean in late 1997, off the Florida Keys. It allows aquanaut-scientists to live and work continuously underwater for 10 days, while conducting experiments.

How It Affects You

A compound derived from ocean sponges is currently being tested against prostate cancer cells; an element found on mangrove roots is a promising anti-tumor agent; and there are marine organisms with properties that have the potential to be used for treating breast and colon cancer, arthritis, and AIDS.

Scientific research leading to marine-based drugs is vital because many infectious organisms have developed strains resistant to soil- and plant-based drugs. Research efforts are also aimed at synthesizing artificial forms of marine compounds to prevent the depletion of these important natural marine resources.

The ocean provides much more than seafood. Many of the foods and products found in the supermarket contain ingredients from the sea. Peanut butter and toothpaste both contain a compound called carrageenan, which comes from sugars found in red algae. Carrageenan makes peanut butter more spreadable and gives toothpaste its consistency.

Marine products are being used by cosmetic companies. Sea Grant scientists discovered a marine compound that is now being used in skin creams. Extracted from a soft coral called Caribbean sea whip, this compound reduces skin inflammation caused by sunburn or irritation, and reduces skin deterioration.

What You Can Do

Get educated and share your information!

If you scuba dive or snorkel, look but don't touch. In the water, your hands, fins and diving equipment can damage the delicate, tiny animals that build a reef. Take care that your fins don't stir up sediments that can smother the corals.

Don't pollute. Plastic bottles, bags and fishing line can injure and kill a variety of marine life. Garbage and human wastes introduce chemicals and nutrient levels that harm the ocean.

Be a wastewater crusader. Help monitor and prevent marine water pollution such as sewage and runoff. Use non-phosphate detergents and cut back on fertilizer to reduce the amount of nutrients entering water bodies. Control runoff and erosion on your property by planting trees, shrubs and grass.

Conserve freshwater. Remember, the less you use means the less runoff and wastewater eventually dump into the ocean.

Promote responsible development. Uncontrolled coastal development and increased population stress adjacent marine ecosystems. As we develop more and more of our undeveloped coastal and inland areas, we place greater pressures on the natural ecosystem to adapt. Over-development can lead to species extinction and ecosystem collapse.