• Oceans cover almost three-quarters of the Earth’s surface, comprise nine-tenths of its water resources and are home to over 97 per cent of all life.

• The bulk of all international trade, approximately 90 per cent, is transported by sea.

• The combined value of ocean resources and uses is estimated to be about $7 trillion per year. Fish and minerals, including oil and gas, contribute significantly to this figure, as do such ocean uses as the recreation industry, transportation, communications and waste disposal.

• Every year, almost 90 million tons of fish are captured globally, providing by far the largest source of wild protein for human consumption.

• The fishing industry provides work to some 36 million people each year in the primary capture fisheries and aquaculture production alone.

• About 50 per cent per cent of fish stocks are fully utilized and another 25 per cent are overfished, leaving only 25 per cent with some potential for increased fish harvests.

• The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicts that by 2030 aquaculture will dominate fish supplies and that less than half of the fish consumed will originate in capture fisheries.

• About 90 per cent of the world’s fisheries fall under the jurisdiction of coastal States.

• FAO projections of world fishery production in 2010, which includes both fish captures and aquaculture production, range between 107 and 144 million tons, from which 30 million tons will be converted into animal feed, leaving only an estimated 77 to 114 million tons for human consumption.

• Marine minerals — including offshore oil and gas, gold, tin, diamonds, sand and gravel — have been estimated to generate nearly $1 trillion every year.

• Offshore oil production accounts for about 30 per cent of total world oil production, and offshore gas production accounts for about half of world production.

• Offshore oil production worldwide grew from about 13,500 million barrels per day in the early 1980s to about 18,600 million barrels per day in the mid-1990s, an increase of 37 per cent. In the same period, offshore gas production worldwide grew from about 28,300 to 35,900 million cubic feet per day, an increase of 27 per cent.

• Huge deposits of frozen compounds of methane gas (methane hydrates) can be found at 600 to 1,500 feet below the ocean floor on continental margins throughout the world. These ocean-floor deposits are a potentially enormous source of energy. Scientists estimate that they contain twice the amount of organic carbon as all recoverable and non-recoverable oil, gas and coal deposits on Earth.

• The three greatest threats to the world’s oceans, as identified by the Global Environment Facility, are pollution from land-based sources, overexploitation of living marine resources, and physical alteration or destruction of marine habitats.

• Land-based sources are responsible for 80 per cent of the pollution of the oceans and affect the most productive areas of the marine environment.

• Dumping of wastes and other matter accounts for 10 per cent of pollutants in the oceans.

• The greatest threat to the marine environment from shipping activities arises from the introduction of harmful alien species into new environments through ship ballast water.

• Ocean pollution is estimated to cause some 250 million cases of gastroenteritis and upper respiratory disease every year, costing societies worldwide about $1.6 billion a year, according to a recent study sponsored by the United Nations Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

• The consumption of uncooked sewage-contaminated shellfish causes some 2.5 million cases of infectious hepatitis each year, at a cost of approximately $10 billion annually, according to the GESAMP/WHO study.

• The global average sea level has risen by 10 to 25 centimeters over the past 100 years. Models project that sea levels will rise another 15 to 95 cm by 2100 (with the "best estimate" at 50 cm).

• More than half of the world’s population lives near the sea at a density twice the global average, exposed to the threats of floods, storms, sea level change and coastal erosion. It is estimated that approximately 27 per cent of coral reefs are at high risk of degradation due to direct human impact and the effects of climate change. It is predicted that a further 50 to 60 per cent of the world’s reefs may be destroyed within the next 30 years unless urgent measures are taken.

• From 1984 to June 2002, 2,678 incidents of piracy and armed attack were reported to the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Of these, 171 were reported in the first six months of 2002, with 370 in 2001 and 471 in 2000. In 2000, according to reports received by IMO, 72 crewmembers were killed by pirates and armed robbers at sea, 129 were wounded and 5 were reported missing.

• 276 incidents of migrant smuggling, involving 12,426 migrants, were reported to IMO from the end of 2000 to 30 April 2002.

• On 30 April 1982, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly with 130 States voting in favour, 4 against and 17 abstaining. Later that year, on 10 December, the Convention was opened for signature at Montego Bay, Jamaica, and received a record number of signatures 119 on the first day.

• The Convention on the Law of the Sea entered into force on 16 November 1994, one year after it had reached the 60 ratifications necessary. The Convention is fast approaching universal participation, with 157 signatures and 138 States, including the European Union, having become parties to it.

source: http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_20years/oceanssourceoflife.pdf