ExploringtheOceans.doc

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Exploring the Oceans
Ever wonder what lives in the Earth’s waters? Some 300 scientists from 53 different countries are wondering the same thing. For the first time in history, scientists are trying to count how many species of fish, animals and plants live under water.　
They are conducting a census of life in the world’s oceans, which cover 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface. The study began in 2000 and is expected to end in 2010, at a cost of US$1 billion. So far, scientists have counted more than 15,000 species of fish and around 200,000 species of animals and plants in the oceans. They expect to find at least another5,000 species of fish.　
Scientists believe that the animals and plants they’ve found so far represent just 10 per cent of the world’s total underwater population. That means that they expect to find almost 2 million species of animals and plants by 2010. “Our goal by 2010 is to know as much about life in the oceans as we know about life on land now,” says a marine biologist who is working on the project.　
The newly-discovered species are not all new species. Many of them have just never been recorded before. Scientists fear that the growing human population is decreasing the variety of species living in the ocean. They hope the census will help them learn how human activity, such as fishing and agriculture, is affecting the oceans.　
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