Which year did the United Nations declare as the International Year of the Ocean?

1998 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of the Ocean. This was a very wise decision because the ocean is too easily taken for granted. All of the world's population - including people living a long way from the coast - depend upon the ocean.

The ocean is the source of all life. Out of it stumbled the forebears of humankind; from it humankind draws living resources for food. It is the key factor in maintaining the oxygen/carbon dioxide balance in the atmosphere. It maintains the stability of the earth's climate. It provides the medium for transport between continents. It is a source of recreation and holidays.

The ocean is also the last legal frontier. Humankind continues to do to the ocean what it is now outlawing on land: using the ocean as a refuse tip for non-biodegradable substances, for old chemical weapons and radioactive material, and as a depository for fertilizers washed off the land. Unlike the rivers, which wash pollutants to the ocean, the ocean has no outlet. In short: the muck stops here.