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It's the ocean next door, i.e., the shallow seas that the vast majority of ocean life calls home. Shallow seas are rich with coral reefs, mangrove swamps, kelp forests and sea-grass plains, and include open waters off icy islands, thick with penguins, krill and whales.
The shallow ocean realms are the rain forests of the sea — vital to capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and expelling oxygen. They are also where we get the vast majority of our seafood and, paradoxically, the part of the oceans that get the most polluted runoff from human activities on land.
These waters are also where whales come to give birth and suckle their young. Whether it's humpbacks off the Hawaiian Islands or gray whales off the coast of Baja California, shallow bays and the waters near islands provide shelter for some of the most impressive marine mammals found anywhere on the planet.
Lights, Nutrients ... Action!
What makes shallow seas explosively alive is that they are at the intersection of two worlds: outer space and the deep ocean. Outer space starts right above sea level, at least from a fish's point of view. It's where the light from the sun is strongest and able to illuminate the upper 100 feet or so of water.
The deep ocean waters, on the other hand, see no sunlight, but they contain nutrients galore. The only thing the nutrients need is the light and a few tiny ocean plants to kick-start an entire ecosystem. The key is getting that nutrient-rich water to the surface. Along coasts and islands the rising seafloor and stormy weather above do the trick. Winds stir surface waters and create mixing currents that run deep and bring the deep waters up. Once those nutrients are in the sunlit upper waters, the nutrients are fertilizer for a burst of phytoplankton life — the base of the entire ocean food chain. At the top of that food chain are great white sharks and humpback whales, dolphins and seals, penguins and, of course, humans.
