Promote the proper disposal of hazardous wastes manufactured or sold by local companies. For example, a gas station could provide a motor oil recycling depot. Paint companies could offer a program to collect old cans and solvent containers. More than two-thirds of the world's human population lives within 80 kilometres of the ocean. Nearly half of our largest cities are built on or around estuaries, where salt water and freshwater meet.
Estuaries are important nurseries for two-thirds of all aquatic animals.
Approximately 800,000 sea birds and 120,000 dolphins, whales, and seals are killed annually in drift-nets used for tuna and squid fishing. Draining and filling wetlands for agricultural use has destroyed 85 per cent of Canadian salt-marshes and freshwater wetlands. Some ocean trawlers could hold a dozen 747 airplanes in their nets at once. Salt-marshes produces almost three times as much plant life as the richest farmland. About 70 per cent of fish species spend part of their life cycle in coastal areas, including salt-marshes.