Marine Life Is Disappearing. Experts Explain What's At Stake

A major milestone in marine conservation was reached this week: in the more than 60 years since opening, SeaWorld Rescue has rescued more than 43,000 animals, and not just in Florida - they take in animals from all over, sometimes driving all night to reach an animal in need several states away.

But this is just one piece of the global effort to aid marine life.

Let's Dive In:

Here’s the problem: A lot of the threats to marine life are in fact caused by humans, both directly and indirectly.

“We have issues with boat strikes which are particularly common when it comes to manatees, but also occur both on whales and dolphins as well. Even though they're quite capable swimmers, they still do get hit by boats,” explains Dr. Jeff Eble, Florida Program Director for Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute.

Changing ecological conditions, including harmful algal blooms driven by warmer waters and increased pollutants, and threats in the water like discarded fishing gear that can cause entanglements and injuries also can be extremely dangerous for marine life.

These threats apply to the entirety of marine ecosystems, even animals we often consider to be floating above it all at the top of the food chain.

“Because sharks evolved before just about any other animal with a backbone, they're this incredible group of animals that has survived global extinctions all the way up until today,” notes Dr. Toby Daly-Engel, the director of the Daly-Engel Shark Conservation Lab at the Florida Institute of Technology. “But what we're finding is that they're probably not equipped to survive modern climate change.”

Whether or not the specific cause of harm to a specific animal is from something related to human activities, organizations like SeaWorld Rescue take it upon themselves to step in to help animals in need. 

The Best People For The Job:

In the first five months of 2026 alone, SeaWorld Rescue teams in Florida have helped 21 manatees, a baby dolphin, nearly 40 turtles and reptiles and several birds, and each one of those rescues represents the result of a massive collaborative effort between rescue staff, the public and government groups.

Take Melby the manatee, whose rescue from a storm drain we covered earlier this year.

(MORE: Melby The Manatee: From Rescue To Rehab And Release After Collaborative Effort To Save Him From A Storm Drain)

The rescue itself was a massive undertaking which involved literally ripping up the roadway. It included collaboration between the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Manatee Rescue, the University of Florida, Brevard County Fire Rescue and even a local towing company, before the manatee was transported to SeaWorld Orlando for veterinary care and rehabilitation.

It’s not just veterinary care, it’s “concierge service”, as Dr. Lydia Staggs, one of SeaWorld Orlando’s veterinarians, calls it.

“I just happened to be the on-call vet the day that Melby came in. And so he came in, and I came back to work, and greeted the rescue truck and offloaded him, got blood on him, did a basic, quick physical exam, and we got him in the water and he started eating almost immediately,” recalls Dr. Staggs. 

And because some animals (like Melby) weigh in at several-hundred pounds, those exams can be done poolside.

The manatee tanks, for example, have floors that can lift up out of the water, allowing the veterinary staff to examine the animal.

While Melby may be a cute story, there are plenty of other cases that the SeaWorld rescue team has helped with that are significantly less cute.

Boat strikes and injuries from propellers can leave lifelong scars on the animals taken in, and lesions from cold weather can cause significant tissue damage if not caught soon enough.

Young marine mammals can become exhausted and emaciated after battling rough conditions from storms and bad weather.

Discarded fishing line can entangle marine life and cause serious injuries and make it hard for an animal to move.

And then there’s animals like Bruce, the Eastern Pacific green sea turtle who not only had injuries to his flippers, tail and shell, but also had four shotgun pellets lodged in his neck.

What You Can Do To Help:

This may all sound quite dire, but there are real steps that we all can take to support rescue and rehabilitation efforts. 

“The public is the eyes and ears of the environment. So whenever people go kayaking or maybe they like to hang out on a dock… they might be able to spot a manatee that is either sick or injured quicker than someone in our programs,” explains Elysa Tripp, a zoological specialist for SeaWorld Orlando.

And if you aren’t sure if an animal is in need of help, you can always call the SeaWorld Orlando Animal Rescue Hotline and ask (That number is 407-461-7329, in case you want to write it down).

But the easiest way to help marine life is actually just to care about what happens to them.

“We put all this hard work into helping these animals, and if the public didn't care, then we would put them back and they wouldn't do well,” says Dr. Staggs. “But the public does care, and they care about these animals, and so they want to do right by them. So they want to change things, change policies, make the world a better place.”

Sara Tonks is a content meteorologist with weather.com and has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Georgia Tech in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences along with a master’s degree from Unity Environmental University in Marine Science.