// BEGIN editorial data
 var i = 0;
var MarineBiodiversity = new Array();
MarineBiodiversity.sName = "MarineBiodiversity";
MarineBiodiversity.ID = "MarineBiodiversity";
MarineBiodiversity.ID_WB = 4351351;
MarineBiodiversity.sPubDate = "2/23/2004 3:09:09 PM GMT";
MarineBiodiversity.mainsectionID = "NEWS"
MarineBiodiversity.navsectionID = "ENVIRONMENT"
MarineBiodiversity.appFmt = 2;
MarineBiodiversity.itemsPerPage = 1;
MarineBiodiversity.appWidth = 460;
MarineBiodiversity.appHeader = "FACT FILE|Five threats to marine biodiversity";
MarineBiodiversity.appFooter = "Source: National Research Council, National Oceanic and<br>Atmospheric Administration";
MarineBiodiversity.appNavStyle = 3;
MarineBiodiversity.appLayout = 1;
MarineBiodiversity.copyMargin = 9;
MarineBiodiversity[i++] = new Array("","Fisheries' operations","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
MarineBiodiversity[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>One study found that, in the past two decades, the world&#146;s fishing nations have so excessively increased their efforts that global fishing capacity in the traditional fisheries is estimated to be 30 percent greater than required to take the world catch. In the United States, it has been estimated that about one-third of all the fisheries for which sufficient data exist are overfished.";

MarineBiodiversity[i++] = new Array("","Chemical pollution and eutrophication","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
MarineBiodiversity[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>More than 75 percent of ocean pollution actually comes from sources on land. These might be factories, farms or even homes hundreds of miles inland, which pollute either into the air or into rivers that run into the sea. The pollution can increase mortality rates, decrease growth, impair reproduction and genetically mutate ocean species. It is also believed to contribute to the increase in certain marine algae that can kill various marine organisms and cause illness and even death in humans who consume contaminated seafood.";

MarineBiodiversity[i++] = new Array("","Alteration of physical habitat","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
MarineBiodiversity[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>According to the United Nations, more than half of the world&#146;s population lives within 40 miles of the shoreline and this could rise to 75 percent by the year 2020. And as more people live close to shorelines, that means more erosion, destruction and pollution of habitat used by many ocean species. In the United States and worldwide, coastal salt marshes have been destroyed by dredging and filling, mangroves have been removed for shrimp aquaculture, coastal development has altered natural patterns of erosion and sedimentation, and mining and dredging have directly altered habitats for marine species.";

MarineBiodiversity[i++] = new Array("","Invasion of exotic species","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
MarineBiodiversity[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>Both man and nature sometimes add a species to an area where it&#146;s not native. The danger is that this can bring new disease organisms that the native species are not equipped to defend against. Man&#146;s impact often comes via the exchange of ballast water in ships, which can dump marine organisms into new areas. This has been implicated in outbreaks of red-tide in Australia; the invasion of the Black Sea by the American comb jellyfish with disastrous effects on plankton biomass and the anchovy fishery; and the invasion of the Great Lakes by Eurasian zebra and quagga mussels that have caused great economic damage in inland waterways.";

MarineBiodiversity[i++] = new Array("","Global climate change","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
MarineBiodiversity[i-1].body = "<headline/><br>Should Earth continue its warming pattern, scientists fear shore and habitat erosion, increased salinity of estuaries and freshwater aquifers, altered tidal ranges in rivers and bays, changes in sediments and nutrient transport, a change in patterns of chemical and microbial contamination in coastal areas, and increased coastal flooding. Ecosystems particularly at risk include saltwater marshes, mangrove ecosystems, coastal wetlands, coral reefs, coral atolls, and river deltas.";

	// END editorial data