Work

The 2025 Starfish Barometer

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: . The Ocean is essential to life on Earth, regulates the climate, supports rich biodiversity, sustains livelihoods, and inspires cultures and societies. However, unregulated human impacts are putting the Ocean and its ability to contribute to humanity at risk. The Starfish Barometer is a new initiative launched on World Ocean Day (8 June 2025) to provide a concise, science-based annual overview of the multiple dimensions of the Ocean through the lens of its interdependence with humanity. Each year, the Starfish Barometer will present a carefully curated selection of ocean-related developments, chosen for their global significance and grounded in the most up-to-date scientific evidence. Rather than offering an exhaustive review, it will spotlight key aspects, robust, evidence-based, and reflective of major developments of the year. The Starfish Barometer emphasizes the two-way relationship between humanity and the Ocean: we impact its future, and it shapes ours. Its distinctive format, a five-armed starfish with the current state of the Ocean on the top arm, visually represents the balance conveyed by the four remaining arms: human-induced pressures that are undermining ocean health ; the resulting harms to society ; the ocean protection efforts underway ; and the opportunities that the Ocean continues to offer to humanity. Key figures from the 2025 edition illustrate the urgent state of the Ocean. Sea level has risen by 23 cm since 1901; in 2023 alone, losses from tropical storms and flooding totaled US$ 102 billion. Marine animal food production reached a record 115 million tonnes in 2022, yet 37.7% of fish stocks remain overexploited, highlighting the urgent need for sustainable practices. Declared protection policies currently cover only 8.34% of the ocean's surface, while marine biodiversity is under threat, with now 1,677 marine species recorded as at risk of extinction.

Source: State of the Planet

DOI: 10.5194/sp-6-osr9-1-2025