Canary in the coal mine

The implications are astounding.  It should precipitate starvation of significant populations around the Globe.  This may not be such a bad thing.  Fewer humans equals less pollution, of any kind.  The only hurdle will be how intense the conflicts become over the dwindling resource of fish, which is a major source of protein for the world.  Douglas Adam was prescient in his glib Au-revoir of, "So long, and thanks for all the fish."  Oh, and let us not forget that an inextricable link exists between the Ocean and climate.  Literally, humans have jumped the shark...

" An Edinburgh-based research team fears plankton, the tiny organisms that sustain life in our seas, has all but been wiped out after spending two years collecting water samples from the Atlantic."

"The landmark research blames chemical pollution from plastics, farm fertilisers and pharmaceuticals in the water. Previously, it was thought the amount of plankton had halved since the 1940s, but the evidence gathered by the Scots suggest 90% has now vanished."

"Plankton is made up of the billions of marine creatures and plants that drift in the currents of oceans and seas. The category covers a huge variety of species, many of them microscopic. However, they are fundamental to life on Earth as they form the bottom rung of the food chain. Plankton is consumed by the krill which are fed on by the fish that, in turn, provide nutrition for terrestrial animals including billions of humans."

Our empty oceans: Scots team’s research finds Atlantic plankton all but wiped out in catastrophic loss of life.