The ocean absorbs and stores heat energy from the sun's rays and redistributes it around the globe, affecting the movement, temperature and moisture content of air masses over sea and land. We all need and use the ocean. Whether we live in Maine or Montana, New York or Nevada, the ocean has a vital influence in everyday life. Two-thirds of the world's human inhabitants live within 40 miles of the ocean. Fish from the ocean provide the principal source of protein for one-sixth of the people on Earth.
Seagrass meadows are protective nursery areas for many estuarine and ocean fish.
Healthy estuaries are a rich source of nutrients and food organisms which support their own high productivity and that of adjacent coastal waters, and often supporting valuable fisheries as a result. Coastal upwelling areas provide nutrients for highly productive food webs which support other sealife and humans. Coral reefs provide physical structure, food, and protection for a great diversity of marine species, and the coral itself is composed of carbonate which has been produced by animals and plants in a process that sequesters large quantities of carbon dioxide from the environment. However, it is important to also appreciate that these functions are essential or useful to supporting a healthy ocean system in its entirety and contribute to the support of all life on earth, regardless of any direct monetary value to the human species.