View article

Nowadays the use of global ocean is higher than ever. A major portion of the global economy, transportation and food security has been depending on the marine environment and it has been increasing day by day with the increasing of global population and technology driven society (Rice and Garcia, 2011). Currently, over three billion people are directly connected with the marine and coastal environment for their livelihood. Global Ocean has provided marine and coastal resources accounts for more than three trillion US Dollar every year which shares 5% of the global GDP and 3-6 trillion US Dollar worth of maritime economy each year (UNCTAD, 2017). According to the Maritime Transport Report (2017) more than 80% of global trade (10.3 billion tons) and more than 70% of its value has been carried by the maritime transport globally (UNCTAD, 2017). In the first quarter of 2018, 28 main European ports handled 975.3 million tons of maritime goods (Eurostat, 2018) which depicts the scenario of maritime transport in the European Union (EU) seas. On the other hand, global consumption of seafood has been increasing since 1950s (Watson, et al., 2015). From 2011 to 2016 global consumption of fishery products increased from 130 million tons to 150.2 million tons (FAO, 2018). Apart from the above mentioned contribution, ocean plays significant role in regulating global climate, balancing hydrological cycle and maintaining integrity in marine and coastal ecosystems which in turn provide resources to human being. Despite providing tremendous support to human beings, the global marine environment is in peril due to unconscious …