Diego Pacheco Rojas

Marine Biology Reflection

The Last Ocean

Nowadays, it is very important to recognize the ocean’s importance in our ecosystem

and our everyday lives. This vast source of water is what holds all life on Earth together, but

unfortunately, many fishing companies have been disrupting the balance of the marine

ecosystem. The Last Ocean is a documentary that tackles the fishing industry and how they

exploit the oceans for mass production. They are abusing marine life forms for human

consumption and while this may not seem like a big deal, it affects us in a significant way

because soon there will be no place left for these organisms. For example, the movie bases its

mission in The Ross Sea located in Antarctica. This location is crucial to the movie because it is

uninhabited by man, with the exception of few research teams. What used to be a pure spot

filled with ocean life including penguins, seals, and whales, has now been deteriorating because

of fishing companies targeting the Chilean sea bass. This one organism seems insignificant to

us humans, but its absence in The Ross Sea throws the ecosystem off balance and eventually

will kill the ecosystem of The Ross Sea completely.

This documentary truly showed me how fragile our ecosystem is and how all organisms

are connected because they need each other to survive. No matter how miniscule, each

organism has its role in our Earth and it’s up to us as humans to protect these other organisms,

like David Ainley and his team of researchers did with The Ross Sea. Something so simple like

protecting the oceans should not be seen as a burden or a problem but as a right that we have

as organisms on Earth. We need to protect the ecosystem to ensure our future as a species

because in the end, the only thing we really have is Earth, and it needs us to take care of the

ecosystem. The problem stems from our need to consume everything in our paths, as seen with

the fishing industries. This consumption is always excessive and is causing extreme harm to the

planet. The destruction of The Ross Sea would harm not only the Chilean sea bass, but also
penguins, seals, whales, and ultimately humans. That is why The Last Ocean is not only about

The Ross Sea or the fishing industry but about our role on this planet. We need to start taking

care of the ecosystem and the organisms that inhabit it because it doesn’t only belong to us, it

belongs to every other organism on planet Earth.