Shipping, pollution, and overfishing have reduced areas of "wilderness" to just 13 percent of the world's oceans, a study showed on Friday (July 27), warning that untouched marine habitats could completely vanish within half a century. International researchers analyzing the impact of human activity - from fertilizer runoff to increased sea transport - on underwater ecosystems have mapped the dwindling zones considered pristine. The bulk of remaining ocean wilderness, classed as "mostly free of human disturbance", was found in the Arctic and Antarctic, and around remote Pacific islands.

Untouched ocean habitats rapidly shrinking - study. (2018, July 28). Manila Bulletin, pp. 1, 6.