Seas and oceans define this planet Earth in a unique way. They make it a blue planet and establish a connection between all the continents. The sea gives life. It is the biggest converter of carbon dioxide and is crucial for the entire water cycle, it is habitat for uncountable numbers of animal and plant species and its fish are the basis of life for more than a billion people.
However, this magnificent and vital ecosystem is under greatest distress today. It suffers from plastic and chemical pollution, it is radioactively contaminated and is massively overfished due to the excessive greed of mankind. Even mobile wireless communication does not stop at the sea. In future, the seas and coasts are to be fully monitored as a “Smart Ocean” by “underwater wireless communications”. This should enable gapless environmental monitoring, for example. But what is the point of environmental monitoring if it interferes with and disturbs the environment to such an extent that there can no longer be any question of protection?
