OCEAN STATE IN 2025

The view of this first Starfish Barometer reveals that the Ocean is undergoing rapid and alarming changes, marked by record heat, rising seas, widespread species decline, and threatened major ecosystems. More than ever, these impacts underscore the urgent need to protect and restore the health of our Ocean.
Protection effortsHuman Pressures
Protection effortsHuman Pressures

The sea is rising – its level has increased globally by 23 cm since 1901,

as a direct consequence of accelerated ocean warming and increasing ice loss from ice sheets and glaciers. In 2024, global sea levels reached the highest level ever recorded since monitoring began, rising 23 cm since 1901. Over the past decade (2015–2024), the rate of sea-level rise has been twice as fast as in the early years of satellite records (1993–2002), due to increasing ice loss from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, ongoing glacier mass loss, and thermal expansion due to ocean warming.

The ocean reached its highest recorded temperatures, 

with oxygen loss and rapid acidification threatening marine life. 2024 marks a year of intense, persistent and widespread heatwaves in the Ocean, and ocean heat content reached its highest level in the 64 years for which we have reliable recorded global observations (since 1960), surpassing the previous record high set in 2023, and the 2015/16 record by 0.25°C at the ocean surface. The record ocean surface temperature values reflect natural variability amplified by long-term global warming — an event unlikely to occur without the underlying climate trend.

1,677 marine species are threatened with extinction,

with a third of sharks and over a quarter of cetaceans critically endangered, mainly due to overfishing and climate change. As of the most recent update (May 2025), 1,677 marine species are listed as at risk of extinction on the IUCN Red List, including 291 classified as critically endangered, 647 as endangered, and 739 as vulnerable. Among these, 1,211 species are experiencing declining populations, 28 are increasing, and the remainder are either stable or have unknown trends. This represents an increase of 204 species at risk since the last reported estimate. One third of sharks, rays, and chimaeras are classified as threatened, with 67% at risk of extinction due to fisheries are threatened with extinction, and 11% are near-threatened. The percentage of threatened cetaceans has increased over time, from 15% in 1991 to 26% in 2021. The Ocean Census initiative has discovered 866 new marine species in its first year, highlighting the unknown depths of ocean life. This pace of discovery highlights a critical risk: countless marine species may vanish before science even has a chance to identify them, particularly in the deep-sea where multiple stressors such as climate change, deep sea mining and bottom trawling puts them at risk, making conservation efforts all the more urgent.

The fourth major coral bleaching event recorded hit the ocean,

with almost half of all coral species threatened with extinction and a worrying acceleration in reef degradation. Following extreme conditions in 2023 driven by historically high heat stress, the 2024 coral bleaching event is the fourth global event on record since 1985 and the second in the past decade. Live coral cover on reefs has nearly halved over the past 150 years, with the decline dramatically accelerating over the past two or three decades. A total of 44% of reef coral species are threatened with extinction. The rapid decline in coral reefs — the Ocean’s most biodiverse habitat — is weakening natural storm protection, threatening biodiversity, and endangering livelihoods.