Pacific Ocean Wildlife Conservation

whale in ocean swimming

The web domain pwlf.org has been acquired by Natureweb.co as of July, 2022. Natureweb.co has no affiliation with the Pacific Wildlife Foundation.

Pwlf.org was formerly the website of The Pacific Wildlife Foundation, a federal not-for-profit society with charitable status registered in Canada. It’s current website is located at pwlf.ca/.

The Pacific Ocean covers almost one third of the Earth’s surface. As a result of its size, the Pacific Ocean ecosystem is home to a large number of living things, as are the lands along it’s coastlines as well as it’s intertidal zones.

The Pacific Ocean impacts numerous land environments. The majority of the world’s islands — over 25,000 — can be found in the Pacific Ocean. The ecosystem of the Pacific Ocean includes the organisms that live on these islands and along their coastlines.

Biodiverse Ecosystem

blue whale


One of the most diverse and beneficial temperate marine ecosystems in the world, the California Current flows south from Vancouver Island, Canada, along the west coast of the United States, and down to Baja California, Mexico. Upwelling, which is fueled by wind, is a process that raises nutrient-rich water to the surface.

Large phytoplankton blooms are sparked by the upwelling waters, which in turn support tiny krill and other foraging species, which further support over 150 species of breeding and migrating marine birds (including albatross, pelicans, lava gulls, plovers, and oyster catchers), thousands of marine invertebrate species such as sea urchins, starfish and jellyfish, over 700 fish species (such as Pacific herring and sardine), 32 species of marine mammals (many of which are threatened or endangered species like sea otters, sperm whales, and blue whales), four different types of sea turtles (including the leatherback and hawksbill sea turtles that are endangered).

The well-being and diversity of the California Current Ecosystem are in danger due to habitat destruction, overfishing, coastal and ocean development, acidification, fisheries bycatch, pollution, and other adverse factors.

Mangrove Trees

Since rising sea levels linked to climate change are predicted to drown large areas of these priceless and economically significant ecosystems, action is needed to preserve mangroves in the Pacific.

According to studies, by the end of the century, mangroves on some islands in the area may have disappeared entirely. American Samoa, Fiji, Tuvalu, and the Federated States of Micronesia are the worst affected.

The study “Pacific Island Mangroves in a Changing Climate and Rising Seas,” which examined the vulnerability of the 16 Pacific Island countries and territories that have native mangroves, concludes that the loss of up to 13% of the mangrove area could occur.

Mangroves are important fish spawning grounds, they help to clean up coastal pollution, sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and they provide local communities with essential resources like wood and building supplies. Mangroves are also used by Pacific islanders as a source of dyes for textiles, nets, and fish traps.