The marine environment is incredibly productive and yet highly sensible to change. Not until recently are we becoming more aware of the direct and indirect impacts made to this system by our everyday lives. As the population grows there is a greater demand for food, including fish. Fisheries around the world are collapsing due to the expanding technology and high demand. Even species that are not sought out are accidentally captured and thrown back to the ocean, only to die anyway. To compensate for eroding beaches caused by overdevelopment along the coast, the bottom of the ocean is dredged and used for beach replenishment. This action can directly destroy the habitat for the hundreds of invertebrates and fish that live along the bottom of the ocean. Different sand qualities from the dredged and replenishment sites can also cause sand to erode back into the sea, leaving deep cut scarps along the beach and making sea turtle nesting next to impossible. Even development and agriculture upriver has an effect on the ocean. Back in the late 90’s when North Carolina was hit with several severe hurricanes, rivers became flushed with runoff, sewage and dead animals from upstream livestock operations. Eventually this ran into the ocean and caused a huge deadzone of anoxic water, unlivable for anything.